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1 For many years, astronomy professor Steve Squyres envisioned a robotic
geologist that could explore Mars and collect data to send back to Earth.
He and his team repeatedly proposed such a rover to the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA repeatedly said
“no.” But Steve never gave up, and finally, NASA said “yes.” Steve and a
huge team of scientists and engineers worked feverishly to design and
build two MERs (Mars Exploration Rovers) in time for a 2003 launch, at a

time when Mars would be closer to Earth than usual. Despite many
challenges and not enough time, the team made the deadline.
2 NASA launched the rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, into space
in the summer of 2003. In January 2004, Spirit was the first to arrive.
Steve and the NASA team anxiously waited while Spirit made her historic
descent toward Mars. (Note: In this selection, the author refers to Spirit as
“she” and Opportunity as “he.”)

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