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  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Finishing First

Finishing First
Finishing First Fourteen years after 9/11, Opportunity and her team on Earth demonstrated the power of the heart of the human spirit, the freedom to keep going, to keep exploring. There was no tape draped across a finish line on Mars and it was a long time coming – 11years and two months, actually – but on March 24, 2015 the rover roved past 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) and finished the first marathon on a planet beyond Earth. "This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a marathon on the surface of another world," said Project Manager John Callas. "A first time happens only once." The team celebrated this remarkable achievement with a MERathon at JPL on April 9, 2015. JPL-Caltech