Mars Pathfinder Mission

One memory I will always have in my mind is the flight of Apollo 11, and the moment Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. That was a truly epic moment in history, “a giant leap for mankind”. With the demise of Apollo, the space program has been in limbo. Sure, it has made space flight seem to be an almost every day occurrence, but there seems to be no well-defined end that will justify the means that are needed to keep the program going.

Today, on July 4th, there is an event that will help define that goal. It is the landing of an unmanned spacecraft on the planet Mars. It is called Rover, and it has a goal of moving about the Martian surface and taking pictures and samples of the soil to determine if there is or ever was any living creatures there. At this site, Mars Pathfinder Mission, a visitor can watch what is going on, live as it happens. It is due to land on this morning, and starts right to work. What better 4th of July present could our country ask for. At this site, which is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, it is possible to find every little detail about this mission. But it is also possible to see other activities as well, such as where this mission will take us, and what benefits can be gained from the investment this country has made in space travel.

I feel that this mission will help redefine NASA’s goal, and make it one of putting men and/or women on the surface of Mars. I have heard comments about up to 20 years, or even shorter, and possibly even longer. It will undoubtedly be an international undertaking, since it will be a very costly and complex mission. But unlike the Apollo missions, it will not be a race. And that is very encouraging. Maybe we are learning to all live together on this planet after all.

http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default1.html