• WHY WE EXPLORE
• PLANETARY NEWS
  • Archive
  • Our RSS News Feeds
  • Asteroids and Comets
  • Extrasolar Planets
  • Our Solar System
  • Search for Life
  • Solar Sailing- LightSail
  • Space Missions
  • Space Telescopes
  • The Planetary Society
• SPACE TOPICS
• FOR KIDS

browse projects: Amateur Space Images and UnmannedSpaceFlight.com Asteroids - The Potential Threat Carl Sagan Fund for the Future Catalog of Exoplanets FINDS Exo-Earths LIFE Experiment: Shuttle & Phobos LightSail - Solar Sailing Mars Climate Sounder Team Website Messages from Earth Microrovers Mirror Bees: Planetary Defense Observing Earth Pioneer Anomaly Planetary Microphones SETI Optical Telescope SETI Radio Searches SETI@home Shoemaker NEO Grants Space Advocacy Space Information Stardust@home

browse space topics: 2001 Mars Odyssey Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter / PLANET-C) Asteroids and Comets Cassini-Huygens Chandra X-Ray Observatory Chandrayaan-1 Chang'e 1 Compare the Planets Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) Dawn Deep Impact Earth Extrasolar Planets Genesis Hayabusa (MUSES-C) Hubble Space Telescope IKAROS Jupiter Kaguya (SELENE) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Mars Mars Exploration Rovers Mars Express Mars Global Surveyor Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mercury MESSENGER Moon Near Earth Objects Neptune New Horizons Past Missions Phoenix Planetary Analogs Planetary Exploration Timelines Pluto and Charon Private Missions Rosetta Saturn Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence SMART-1 SOHO Space Imaging Spitzer Space Telescope Stardust Trans-Neptunian Objects Ulysses Uranus Venus Venus Express Voyager Weekly Planetary Radio Trivia Contest WISE

Planetary News: Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner (1997)

Planetfest Live Update: Mars Pathfinder Success!

Yesterday, in an event that one scientist called "a unique birthday gift" to the United States, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft successfully landed on the Red Planet. After bouncing three times to a stop on a region of the planet known as Ares Vallis, the spacecraft began beaming to Earth amazing new images of the rocky, dry Red Planet.

Cheers, gasps, and applause greeted the first new images as they were revealed to thousands of visitors at Planetfest '97 in Pasadena, California. As of this writing (6 a.m. PST), scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have begun analyzing Pathfinder's first photos and are working on making sure the lander is communicating with its rover, Sojourner.

The Planetary Society is thrilled to broadcast Planetfest '97 and frequent updates about Mars Pathfinder LIVE over the Internet. All you need to connect to Planetfest '97 with your computer is a fast connection to the Internet (at least a 28.8 kbps modem connection) and a Java-enabled browser (such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer). You can also get more information on the mission from NASA's Mars News site and the Mars Pathfinder home page.