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CNN Sunday Morning
Spirit Lands on Mars
Aired January 04, 2004 - 09:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: NASA scientists are calling the images incredible, but it's the specter of life that paints the most vivid picture for starry-eyed project managers, and if the initial success of a mission is any sign, the little rover named Spirit is blazing a new trail. CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's the Spirit.
A victory dance after Mars, named by the Romans after their god of war, lost a battle in stubborn defense of its secrets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it worked.
O'BRIEN: And to the victor came the spoils. Picture postcard proof humans have again sent an electronic emissary to another world. The self-portrait and glimpses of the rocky horizon, just a taste of what may lie ahead.
The slide show was a best-case cherry atop a spectacular Saturday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We could not have imagined returns as early as this, as clear as this, and as successful as this, and in the volume that it has been. Ladies and gentlemen, Mars.
O'BRIEN: It happened precisely as they had hoped. A 12,000 mile an hour bulls-eye piercing the wispy Martian atmosphere. The heat shield, parachute, rockets and airbags all working in rapid succession, as and when they should.
ROB MANNING, ENTRY LANDING DIRECTOR: We never get it right when we practice it. But this seems -- this went to perfection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really, really like doing it when it works like this.
O'BRIEN: Four years ago, Richard Cook (ph) was there when the Mars polar lander crashed. It mistook the jolt of its landing gear deployment for touchdown and turned off its rockets. Two months prior, its sister orbiter missed the mark and crashed after navigators confused metric and English measurements. The postmortem accused NASA of cutting too many corners. ED WEILER, NASA ASSOC. ADMINISTRATOR: We did this one differently. We spent twice as much money on it. We had endless, countless independent reviews. We reviewed the reviewers.
O'BRIEN: But before they can saver any rave reviews, much work lies ahead. The roving robot geologist is programmed to methodically begin its march across the Mars scape looking for clear proof that this brutally cold, terribly dry place was once warm and wet, and thus a safe harbor for life.
STEVE SOUYRES, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: And if we can find sediments and if we can read the story that they have to tell, they can give us a great deal of information about what it was like in this place long ago.
O'BRIEN (on camera): If anyone here thought things were going to go this well, they certainly weren't saying so out loud. NASA was still smarting from the debacle four years ago. There was a lot on the line before Spirit landed. Now there is a long line of rocks with an old story just waiting to be told for the first time.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 4, 2004 - 09:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: NASA scientists are calling the images incredible, but it's the specter of life that paints the most vivid picture for starry-eyed project managers, and if the initial success of a mission is any sign, the little rover named Spirit is blazing a new trail. CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's the Spirit.
A victory dance after Mars, named by the Romans after their god of war, lost a battle in stubborn defense of its secrets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it worked.
O'BRIEN: And to the victor came the spoils. Picture postcard proof humans have again sent an electronic emissary to another world. The self-portrait and glimpses of the rocky horizon, just a taste of what may lie ahead.
The slide show was a best-case cherry atop a spectacular Saturday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We could not have imagined returns as early as this, as clear as this, and as successful as this, and in the volume that it has been. Ladies and gentlemen, Mars.
O'BRIEN: It happened precisely as they had hoped. A 12,000 mile an hour bulls-eye piercing the wispy Martian atmosphere. The heat shield, parachute, rockets and airbags all working in rapid succession, as and when they should.
ROB MANNING, ENTRY LANDING DIRECTOR: We never get it right when we practice it. But this seems -- this went to perfection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really, really like doing it when it works like this.
O'BRIEN: Four years ago, Richard Cook (ph) was there when the Mars polar lander crashed. It mistook the jolt of its landing gear deployment for touchdown and turned off its rockets. Two months prior, its sister orbiter missed the mark and crashed after navigators confused metric and English measurements. The postmortem accused NASA of cutting too many corners. ED WEILER, NASA ASSOC. ADMINISTRATOR: We did this one differently. We spent twice as much money on it. We had endless, countless independent reviews. We reviewed the reviewers.
O'BRIEN: But before they can saver any rave reviews, much work lies ahead. The roving robot geologist is programmed to methodically begin its march across the Mars scape looking for clear proof that this brutally cold, terribly dry place was once warm and wet, and thus a safe harbor for life.
STEVE SOUYRES, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: And if we can find sediments and if we can read the story that they have to tell, they can give us a great deal of information about what it was like in this place long ago.
O'BRIEN (on camera): If anyone here thought things were going to go this well, they certainly weren't saying so out loud. NASA was still smarting from the debacle four years ago. There was a lot on the line before Spirit landed. Now there is a long line of rocks with an old story just waiting to be told for the first time.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
