PASADENA, California (CNN) -- NASA's remote controlled rover Spirit is safely sitting on the surface of planet Mars sending images to Earth, where excited scientists will examine data for signs of water and life.

CNN's Miles O'Brien is covering Spirit's amazing journey from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and filed this report:

O'BRIEN: The Spirit has landed. Quite a marked contrast to what happened four years ago, when NASA tried to land a lander on Mars. The Mars Polar Lander crashed when it prematurely shut off its rocket engines, mistaking the jolt of the landing gear deploying for touchdown.

This time it went off without a hitch -- and then some. As a matter of fact, if anybody had expected this result last night, they sure weren't saying anything about it.

A joyous pandemonium erupted in the mission control room when the first signals from the rover were received this morning -- after 4 solid years of work and a 303-million-mile journey and seven months of travel time. The landing happened, the tones were sent back, and before too long, amazingly, a series of pictures came back.

The images showed the Martian surface in the afternoon and Spirit sitting in the midst of what may be a dry lake bed. Scientists would like to prove that by analyzing data from the rover during the next few months.

The airbags which protected Spirit on impact have deflated. Its petals have opened up, which protected it as well. Solar arrays opened and a mast with a stereoscopic camera has been raised...