[X] My Assistant

[dvandorn]

Now that it's been a while since the rovers landed, it's time to open a reminiscence thread.

What are your favorite memories of the MER missions thus far?

Bearing in mind that I have had NASA-TV on my cable system throughout most of the mission, here are a few of mine:

- The launches. The onboard camera from Spirit's launch was impressive, showing the Florida coast dwindling as the curvature of the Earth became more and more apparent. Opportunity's night launch gave less impressive onboard views, but the last-chance anxiety as Oppy finally launched, after several delays, near the end of its weeks-long launch window made her successful departure even more memorable.

- Spirit's landing. The pressure, the tension, the excitement as each phase successfully unfolded, the elation at the first bouncing signal, the sheer terror as signal was lost for many long minutes. The satisfaction of seeing a new place on Mars. I remember when the first navcam pans came in, I said to myself, "Yep, that's Mars, all right -- rock-strewn, wind-eroded, Mars." I remember thinking that Gusev actually looked considerably less rocky than the previous three landing sites, with a similar population of smaller rocks but not nearly so many large rocks as we had seen elsewhere.

- Six wheels in the dirt. As Spirit trundled off its lander and headed out, away from its landing point, I got this odd feeling. It seemed totally odd that we were leaving the lander, never to return. This has never happened in the course of American space exploration, ever. (I know the Lunokhods did it, but the Lunokhods' missions took place at such a remove, information-wise, from my world that they might as well never have happened.) It was a very funny feeling, leaving your touchdown point and never intending to return. It took some getting used to.

- Opportunity's landing. The pressure was no less, but since we knew the system worked, it seemed like less of a risk. And the absolute elation of the EDL team was electric -- I *loved* their victory lap at the post-landing press conference. And, I must admit, my first reactions to the first images from Oppy were very, very similar to what Steve Squyres reported. My first impression was "Wow, no rocks! That surface looks almost completely featureless! This is nothing like the other rock-strewn sites we've seen before!" And then I saw the outcrop, and said, out loud, "Oh. My. God. That's a layered outcrop of bedrock. A LAYERED OUTCROP!" (I then followed this with a string of totally flabbergasted expletives which, for the sake of the forum rules, I will omit from my discussion... *grin*...)

- The first Endurance rim pan. Just totally blew me away. What more do I need to say?

So, what are your most cherished memories of the MER missions?

-the other Doug