Spirit-- Five Years Later

NASA's rover Spirit landed on Mars inside a system of balloons five years ago yesterday. Bouncing to a stop seemed on odd way to land a complex robot on another planet, but it worked. Twice. Partly, that was due to Mars' lower gravity. Dropping onto Mars and bouncing to a stop isn't quite the same as slamming into the rocks of Earth.

Spirit's mission roving Mars was to last 90 days. Five years later, it's still functioning. So is its twin rover, Opportunity, which landed on Mars three weeks after Spirit. The rover missions have been extraordinary suiccesses. They stand as testament to what dedicated, educated humans can accomplish-- useful to remember in these difficult times.