PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: Jessica Collisson: “The original time that was predicted for the data to come down was 12:20:40 UTC, but we are a bit tight. So we actually had a lot of suggestions for morning wake-up songs today. So I thought I would just continue to play them as we get the data.”
STEVE SQUYRES: NASA does a lot of wonderful things in space science. But try to explain gamma ray spectroscopy to an 8-year-old. It’s hard. But, a robot geologist, anybody could sort of understand what it was about. And now, exploration and adventure can become a very large shared human experience.
ARCHIVAL: Heineken commercial: “What is it doing?”
Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
ASHLEY STROUPE: And then we just had to wait and see if we were gonna survive.
ROB MANNING: The rovers became a phenomenon. They represented exploration and curiosity and interest in the world. ARCHIVAL: John Stewart: “Godspeed to the Mars rover, wherever you are tonight.” ROB MANNING: And the more these rovers lasted and the more promise of future discovery…
DOUG ELLISON: I don’t think anyone expected the rovers to survive all these disasters. You get this feeling of, there’s nothing Mars can do to us at this point. We’ve survived everything. We’re basically invincible. But, the mission wasn’t done. We were still hoping we could find a place where life could have arisen with neutral pH water, with water you maybe could have even drunk. ARCHIVAL: STEPHEN COLBERT: Dr. Squyres. Thanks for joining us. This is a model of one of the rovers that’s on Mars right now.
ARCHIVAL: “It has a shoulder, it has an elbow, it has a wrist.”
STEVE SQUYRES: That’s right.
ROB MANNING: People around the world were becoming really attached to these rovers. ASHLEY STROUPE: But I don’t think any of us fully realized the impact that we were having on the public until Spirit got stuck.
STEPHEN COLBERT: Is this Spirit or Opportunity?
STEVE SQUYRES: They’re basically identical twins –
STEPHEN COLBERT: So you can’t tell the difference between your two children? You’re a terrible father is what you’re saying.
JENNIFER TROSPER: My alter ego Spirit had a problem.
ILM SFX ANIMATION: WS: of Spirit stuck in the terrain.
STEVE SQUYRES: So Spirit and Opportunity’s mission had kinda taken on a life of its own with the public.
ARCHIVAL: News clip: “The traffic once again is heavy today on Mars. Rovers Spirit and Opportunity still at it. So far they have traveled 9 and a quarter miles and captured more than 156,000 images.”
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