NASA Launches Mission to Mars Pole

[onehandle]

Source: NYT/AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A robotic dirt and ice digger rocketed toward Mars on Saturday, beginning a 422 million-mile journey that NASA hopes will culminate next spring in the first ever landing within the red planet's Arctic Circle.

The Phoenix Mars Lander blasted off before dawn, precisely on time, hurtling through the clear moonlit sky aboard an unmanned Delta rocket. The rocket was easily visible for five minutes, a bright orange speck in a spray of stars.

Tension was high, with much hand-wringing in launch control, as engineers awaited contact with the craft.

''Everything appears normal, but it was a little bit of anxious moments there,'' said launch director Chuck Dovale. ''It seemed like an eternity but it was about 20 minutes or so where we weren't sure. We were hoping Phoenix would phone home and she did.''



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Phoenix-Mars.html

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Please find definitive life and piss off the fundies.

[1620rock]

1. Awsome, godspeed Phoenix.

[Ilsa]

2. Finding life on another planet will confuse the Fundies for awhile,

but they'll come up with some obscure Bible verse to almost, sort of, hint around, explain it. They are very creative in their self-delusions. But it will be entertaining.

[niceypoo]

3. The fundies would probabally attribute it to demons

Mars is infested with demons, that explains it...

[The Wielding Truth]

4. Gee, can we send all the Freepers there too?

[3waygeek]

5. I got up early this AM

to watch the launch live on HDNet -- there's nothing quite like a nighttime launch in high-def.

[ohio2007]

6. TD - May '08, Less than a year !

5 of the 15 attempts to safely land on Mars have succeeded but
if this was baseball,
ya gotta like that batting average.