Jul 4 1997
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(New page: NASA successfully landed the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft on Mars, exactly seven months after its launch from Earth. Project managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ca...)
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NASA successfully landed the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft on Mars, exactly seven months after its launch from Earth. Project managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) called the landing "near perfect," celebrating the beginning of the "second era in the exploration of Mars." The Mars Pathfinder Mission was the first to attempt a planetary landing on initial orbit, and Pathfinder's safe landing followed a journey in which the spacecraft traveled at speeds of up to 16,600 miles (26,800 kilometers) per hour. Although NASA made its first successful flyby of Mars in 1965, in recent years it had taken a new approach to exploring the Red Planet. NASA achieved the development and deployment of Mars Pathfinder for US$266 million, a bargain compared to the US$1 billion cost of the failed Mars Observer. Because of its tightening budget, NASA had adopted a course of planning several simple, but targeted excursions, using low-cost spacecraft, rather than mounting a few complex and expensive missions. Pathfinder landed almost exactly at the point aimed for and immediately transmitted signals back to Earth announcing its safe landing. Officials at JPL noticed a slight complication, when early images revealed that some of the airbags used to cushion the craft's landing had bunched up around the door that Sojourner the rover set to explore the planet would use to exit Pathfinder. NASA's engineers clarified, however, that the temporary problem would not compromise the rover's planned exploration.
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