After a near seven-month journey from Earth, NASA’s Spirit robotic rover bounded onto the rocky surface of Mars late Saturday, informing anxious space agency officials and scientists in early communications the spacecraft was down on target and preparing to widen the search for life on the Red Planet. The first signals confirming a successful descent reached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and other top space agency officials where gathered for an all-night vigil, at 10:35 p.m., CST. It took the good news nearly 10 minutes to traverse the 106 million miles separating the Earth and Mars.