Some of the excited engineers and staff on landing day. Click on
image for full size Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Headlines declare: Mars Pathfinder Lands on July 4th The Mars
Pathfinder was launched in December 1996 on a Delta II rocket.
The spacecraft entered the atmosphere on July 4th, 1997, where a
heat shield, parachutes, and airbags helped it land. After
impact the lander put out three solar panels for power. Later
on, a camera will map its surroundings, and the Sojourner rover
will search the surface of Mars for rocks. Long ago, water
flowed on the plains of Mars. The rocky plain that Mars
Pathfinder is landing on is thought to be a previous flood
plain. Its name is Ares Vallis. The Sojourner rover will test
rock and soil samples in this area. Mars Pathfinder will finish
its surface mission in August 1997. The Mars Pathfinder is a
NASA Discovery Mission. The Pathfinder program was developed in
three years and costs under $280 million dollars. It is actually
the first of NASA's Discovery Prog