January 15, 2004
Elvis has left the Building
The Mars rover "Spirit" has rolled off of its lander platform onto the Martian surface. Or, as the JPL guys are ecstatically proclaiming, "We have six wheels in the dirt."
Posted by elkaim at January 15, 2004 10:33 AMNASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully drove off its lander platform and onto the soil of Mars early today.
The robot's first picture looking back at the now-empty lander and showing wheel tracks in the soil set off cheers from the robot's flight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"Spirit is now ready to start its mission of exploration and discovery. We have six wheels in the dirt," said JPL Director Dr. Charles Elachi