Spirit Sets the Stage

The timing and substance of the president’s announcement could not be dis­connected from what happened with the MEP. If Spirit succeeded, it would be much easier to herald a new human program to the Moon and Mars. But there was reason to be wary. Other countries recently had joined the United States in the Mars quest. They were finding the Red Planet as daunting as the pioneering nations, the United States and Russia, had. The Japanese on December 9 had to declare a Mars mission they had sent a failure. They were unable to put their probe into its intended orbit. On Christmas Eve, the European Space Agency did achieve Mars orbit with its Mars Express, but the Beagle 2 lander/rover it carried failed the next day.30

Weiler’s comment about Mars being “a death planet” had justification. O’Keefe, Weiler, and Elachi were all present on Saturday night, January 5, 2004, at JPL’s mission control room as Spirit made its long-awaited attempt to land. Because of the distance between Mars and Earth, there was a gap of several minutes between what happened on Mars and signals of what happened were received on Earth. “I’m scared,” admitted Weiler. “An awful lot of things have to go right. . . it’s up to the Gods now.” Carrying its 384-pound rover NASA described as a PhD field geologist in capability, the spacecraft began its harrow­ing descent to Mars. It entered Mars’s atmosphere at 12,000 miles per hour and had six minutes to carry out a series of automated maneuvers that would lead to either a safe landing or a disaster. Weiler called this period of time “six minutes from Hell.”31

Spirit made it. When the signal arrived that the spacecraft had safely con­cluded its bounce-after-bounce landing, joy erupted at JPL mission control. Scientists, engineers, and NASA officials cheered. Naderi cried. He “ran down

the corridor to see Theisinger [the project manager].” He was emotional too. Everyone “hugged one another.”32 Sean O’Keefe opened a bottle of champagne. The celebration was one of immense relief. “There are probably several hun­dred people here for whom it’s the best day of their lives,” one scientist told a Washington Post reporter. At a news conference a little later, O’Keefe stated, “This is a big night for NASA.” “We’re back!” he exclaimed, “and we’re on Mars.”33 O’Keefe later told Elachi, “You saved the agency.”34

The significance of Spirit’s achievement for the White House was indicated by Bush’s science advisor, John Marburger, who was also among the notables at JPL. “This is going to give everybody a big boost,” he commented. “It gives a big boost to the American people. Obviously, this helps a lot to instill confidence in any policy step that you make.”35