By God, it worked! Against long odds, NASA’s Mars Pathfinder spacecraft survived a dive onto the Red Planet on Friday and began reeling off panoramic pictures of a burnt-orange river valley full of rocks, boulders, and ancient mountains.
July 3rd, 1997
This Independence Day, Earth invades Mars Florida Today
On its 221st birthday, the nation that revolutionized life on Earth with the automobile will put a motor vehicle on Mars. At 1:07 p.m. EDT on Friday, Independence Day, America’s Mars Pathfinder spacecraft will slam into the Red Planet, then bounce and roll to a halt in a cocoon of airbags. Then, over the weekend, a rover the size of a microwave oven will roll out onto the surface of Mars.
July 1st, 1997
Mars Pathfinder: Mission Overview
Barring space junk and little green men America will celebrate its 221st Independence Day this Friday, with a tiny visitor, slightly larger than a beach ball, will literally bounce down onto the surface of Mars and begin a new era of low cost exploration of the Red Planet. The NASA Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, a three foot tall landing craft nestled inside a disc-shaped entry shield, will conclude a seven month cruise of the inner Solar System and streak across a darkened Mars atmosphere.
July 1st, 1997
Hubble’s Look at Mars Shows Cloudy Conditions for Pathfinder Landing Florida Today
Hubble Space Telescope pictures of Mars, taken on June 27 in preparation for the July 4 landing of the Pathfinder spacecraft, show a dust storm churning through the deep canyons of Valles Marineris, just 600 miles (1000 km) south of the Pathfinder spacecraft landing site.
June 29th, 1997
Mars mission signals start of new era in space probes Florida Today
If all goes well, on the Fourth of July the mysterious Red Planet will reveal some of its secrets to a NASA probe that will snap pictures, sniff the atmosphere and dispatch a robot pal named Sojourner to check out rock samples.
June 29th, 1997
Building Pathinder’s airbags no easy task Florida Today
Start with the world’s largest vacuum chamber, where air pressure can be regulated to simulate the thin atmosphere on Mars. Erect a 50-foot wall within the chamber, tilt it at a 60 degree angle, and bolt jagged rocks all over it so it resembles a steep Martian slope.
June 29th, 1997
Pathfinder, NASA set for spectacular Fourth of July show Florida Today
Crash landing at best, suicide dive at worst: NASA is ready for an Independence Day invasion of Mars, and it’s enough to make the most secular scientist get religion.
May 2nd, 1997
Rough rides await Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor Florida Today
Launched into space from Cape Canaveral late last year, two spacecraft are now millions of miles from home – and getting a lot closer to danger.
March 5th, 1997
When the Pathfinder lands, will our sci-fi Mars perceptions be altered? Florida Today
Even as you read this, a spaceship is hurtling toward Earth’s most celebrated intergalactic neighbor. When the NASA Pathfinder probe finally sets down on Mars on Independence Day, it might help answer once and for all one of the most intriguing questions in the annals of science: Is there – or has there ever been – life on The Red Planet?
December 5th, 1996
Mars mission opens paths to more knowledge, wonder Florida Today
It was not enough to savor the moment, a moment that was a long time coming. No, on Wednesday morning, just six hours after the inky Florida sky was dazzled with the launch light of a robotic mission to Mars, a scientist stood in daylight at Cape Canaveral Air Station and was asked by a television reporter: When will man be going to Mars?