US rover Spirit drove down the lander and rolled onto the Mars surface for the first time since it landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 3, mission controllers said early Thursday.  

The rover has sent back black-and-white pictures confirming all its six wheels are on the Martian soil, live coverage by US space agency NASA's TV channel showed.

After moving onto Mars surface, one of Spirit's first jobs will be to locate the Sun with its panoramic camera and calculate from the Sun's position how to point its main antenna at Earth, Jennifer Trosper, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said Wednesday at a press conference.

In the coming three months, Spirit will roam the Gusev Crater where it is located, exploring rocks and soil to look for clues of water. The area is thought to be an ancient lake bed.

The success came hours after US President George W. Bush unveiled Wednesday new initiatives to return Americans to the moon as early as 2015 and using it as a step stone for manned missions to Mars and beyond.

Also on Wednesday, US Vice President Dick Cheney paid a congratulatory visit to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, calling the employees "America's most dedicated and successful scientists and researchers."

Opportunity, the twin rover of Spirit, is due to land on the other side of Mars on Jan. 25.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2004)