On Aug. 6, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover successfully touched down on the Martian surface.
But while other rovers used airbags to cushion the last part of the fall, Curiosity’s rocket-propelled sky crane hovered over the ground and gently lowered it with cables.
The landing occurred on Aug. 6 Eastern time, but it was still Aug. 5 in California, where NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages Curiosity’s mission, is based.
Source: https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html