GFX LOWER THIRD: SPIRIT: END OF MISSION JANUARY 3, 2004 – MAY 25, 2011
PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: STEVE SQUYRES: “At any rate, if we can get something like 100 meters as of today’s drive, just project that line...” ROB MANNING: So by this time, only a handful of people who were on the design originally are still left on the team. So, we are in another generation of engineers who are operating Opportunity. BEKAH SOSLAND-SIEGFRIEDT: Never in a million years did I think I was gonna be able to work on Opportunity. When I was in 8th grade, I saw this news story of Spirit and Opportunity landing. I was just some small-town girl in the middle of Nowhere, Texas. But I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to find life on other planets.
MOOGEGA COOPER, PLANETARY PROTECTION ENGINEER
MOOGEGA COOPER Planetary Protection Engineer:
ILM ANIMATED HIRISE
When I was about 17, there was a naming contest for Spirit and Opportunity. I ended up submitting the names Romulus and Remus. Their father was Mars, the God of War. I don’t know what I was thinking. But that is when my brain was completely turned on to Mars and space exploration. And it actually led me to NASA’s Mars program. BEKAH SOSLAND-SIEGFRIEDT: When I first started at JPL, Opportunity was this older rover that was in her extended, extended, times 1000 mission. But, she is the reason I started aerospace engineering. I knew Opportunity was the place I wanted to start my career.
ASHLEY STROUPE: Miles and miles away, is this huge crater called Endeavour. It would have the oldest rocks that Opportunity would have been able to look at so far. But, it was many years away. And, we might not make it, but it was where the next good stuff was so we might as well try.
ANGELA BASSETT (V.O.) Rover Diary: Sol 1784. Five years into the mission.
Opportunity has been trekking toward Endeavour Crater, driving as frequently and for as long as possible. This week, she won the reverse galactic lottery and was struck by lightning – sort of. She got hit by a cosmic ray that stalled her for a few days. But, she is okay and back to driving.
PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE BEKAH SOSLAND-SIEGFRIEDT: “All stations, this is your TDL. We will begin the downlink briefing in about 5 minutes.” ILM SFX ANIMATION: WS FROM CRANE: Opportunity begins moving away from the steep edge of Victoria Crater.
ILM SFX ANIMATION: Tracking Opportunity on the surface of Mars during her journey. Oppy chugging along.
STEVE SQUYRES: Now that Spirit’s gone, then there’s this: what do we do next with Opportunity? Do we just kind of noodle around till the wheels fall off, or do we put our foot on the gas and just go as fast as we can and try to reach that big crater next?
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