'Life on Mars' lander makes risky touch down on red planet

By Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The search for life on Mars took a giant leap on Wednesday when a space lander touched down on the red planet in Europe's first attempt to land a craft there since the Beagle 2's "heroic failure" more than a decade ago. The disc-shaped 577-kg (1,272 lb) Schiaparelli lander, which is testing technologies for a rover due to follow in 2020, landed on Mars after a risky descent, but scientists are still waiting to find out what shape it is in. "We have to wait