NASA at Mars: 20 years of 24/7 exploration

No one under 20 has experienced a day without NASA at Mars. The Pathfinder mission, carrying the Sojourner rover, landed on Mars on July 4, 1997. In the 20 years since Pathfinder's touchdown, eight other NASA landers and orbiters have arrived successfully, and not a day has passed without the United States having at least one active robot on Mars or in orbit around Mars.

[jackbrabham]

This video makes me feel happy. Because the joy of the scientists is trully pure: they are celebrating an achievement which has nothing bad attached to it: landing on mars doesn't make them richier, other people suffer, isn't related with politics or whatnot. It's pure joy for an amazing human achievement. I don't know those people, but I'd like to thank everyone of them for their work and example.

[jasonwebb]

Man. Just think how hard it would be to send anything to another planet. Then to land something on that planet and play with it, almost like a RC car. Truly amazing accomplishment by MAN!!!!

[harryandruschak]

Makes me proud that I worked at JPL 1974-1986. Yes, that included the VIKING mission to Mars :)

[neonsta]

The joy and fear on their faces tells alot about how much efforts and time is involved in one mission

[revenge]

That's why k Sivan cried look at the joy of NASA scientists when mission succeed.their entire life put on a project which they dream they lived with it.I am 100% sure ISRO will bounce back.they shown in past.

[akram]

These people deserve to get paid more than hollywood stars. Hatsoff

[leoncampa]

As a Canadian, I often don't envy Americans on many things. But if there's one thing I'm proud of about Americans, it's their ability to excel in space.
Keep up the good work America, and make the rest of the world proud.

[romuloromero]

This is beautiful. I'm literally crying tears of joy

[rizmid]

My first love will forever be for Pathfinder and Sojourner as these two technological marvels were the last milestone of the past wonderful century that anyone born in the 30 40 years and before had ever experienced. Just before the start of a new millennium! 1997 was a wonderful year to remember, if keep aside our personal experiences and political turmoil at bay! A fan and an admirer from Pakistan!

[erltyriss]

Each person pictured did their own part to help us move toward a future of building a true space civilization. I think America and all our space partners should be proud of these fine individuals.

[tanyasmith]

WHAT AN AMAZING TIME TO BE ALIVE. MY ONLY HOPE FOR OUR HUMAN SPECIES & OUR FUTURE IS THAT WE WILL CONDUCT MORE UNITED SPACE EXPLORATIONS & LESS DIVIDING WARS!

[davidthomas]

It's a great shame we couldn't spend more on space exploration and less on weapons of mass destruction.

[MarsFKA]

In July 2003, my wife and I travelled from the other side of the world to watch the Opportunity Mars Rover launch and had the good fortune to be invited to attend the pre-launch briefing at the KSC Visitor Complex. I quote from the holiday diary:
The briefing was presented by a selection of Big Bangers from NASA (Ed Weiler, NASA HQ), JPL (Peter Theisinger, MER project manager, Rob Manning, MER entry, descent and landing manager), Cornell University (Steven Squyres, principle investigator MER Athena instrument package, and given to expansive gestures and dramatic pauses during his presentation), Boeing, who build the Delta rockets (Scott Messler), and IMAX/Disney (George Butler). The briefing lasted for 75 minutes and included videos, slides and some clips from an IMAX movie that Disney is making about the MER missions, due for release next year.
In the audience were a lot of the people who had built the MERs, and everyone was pretty excited; there were whoo-whoos, yelps and whoopees coming from behind us all through the briefing, especially when people recognised themselves and each other in the various slides and film clips. Those engineers and scientists had spent years on the MER project, and now it was crunch time! One of their babies was already on its way to Mars, and they were there to see the other one off. The excitement was intense and my wife and I couldn’t help but be caught up in it. By the time the briefing was over, we too had a good dose of the Giggle Factor.

We were in Florida for three weeks, which was just as well, because there were numerous minor problems with the Delta 2 rocket. Opportunity was scheduled to launch two days after we arrived, but finally got away three nights before we flew home.

[thelionskiln]

So incredible. Of the the pinnacles of human exploration! Beautiful.

[homssi]

Y'all worked hard for this....You guys should get paid A LOT!!!!

[chgrmpu]

Не сомневаюсь и буду очень рад если я увижу полет человека который сделает репортаж с поверхности Марса.👍

[albertogmail]

Impresionante y emotivo. It's a fantastic video.
U.S A. is a great country.
¡Qué grandes hombres los que hacen posibles estos sueños!
Congratulations from Madrid (Spain)!

[avadheshrathore]

God bless nasa real minds with real engineering there thought process and execution of the project is mind blowing

[Neache]

My ride was on Maven what a fantastic job these people accomplish I salute you all AMAZING. Thank you for your dedication and sharing I'm an old man but at least I got a ride to mars with a certificate to prove it JOB WELL DONE.

[kelina]

A VECES CON MIS 50 y tantos vienen días difíciles ..pero he vivido y visto todas las investigaciones y nuevos retos de la NASA en el espacio y ESTO ES ESPECTACULAR Y ME SIENTO COMPLACIDA DE MIS 50 y tantos ...desde POPAYÁN COLOMBIA ABRAZOS