Backup Blog for KaiYves

Stereo Saturn - October 29th, 1997.

2026 July 4

Pathfinder on Mars Image Credit: Mars Pathfinder, <a href=“href=” https:=“” www.jpl.nasa.gov“=”“>JPL, NASA

Explanation: On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

In addition to finding out where in Africa her ancestors were abducted into slavery, Mary Moran discovered the meaning of the Mende song: a processional hymn for the final farewell to the spirit, it was sung in Senehun Ngola by women as they prepared the body of a loved one for burial.

"The sounds of crickets, flowing water, silent skies with summer stars bursting through dark blue seams, the hum of rotating fans, the evening winds, and music. Music floating across July sunsets."

~ Victoria Erickson