They Did It!!! "Scientists Free Mars Rover From Sand Dune"

Fox News ^ | 6-5-05 | AP

[rawhide]

PASADENA, Calif. — The Mars rover (search) Opportunity resumed rolling freely across the Martian surface Saturday after scientists freed it from a sand dune where it had been mired for nearly five weeks, NASA (search) officials said.

Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (search), which manages the mission, cheered when images beamed back to Earth showed the rover's wheels were free.

"We've got a working rover on Mars that cost $400 million to build and ... keep working," project manager Jim Erickson said. "I'd like to wear it out rather than lose it."

snip...

[AmishDude]

Motorist: "Hi?..."

OnStar Operator: "Hello, ma'am. This is OnStar, how may I help you?"

M: "I got my land rover stuck."

OO: "Where are you?"

M: "Well, I'm uh, let me ask...[pause]...Mars. Yes, Mars."

OO: "Is that Mars, Pennsylvania, ma'am?"

M: "Let me check...[pause]...I don't think so. I think it's THE Mars."

OO: "The planet?"

M: "Yes, yes, the planet."

OO: "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, I'm going to send out a towtruck right away. Is there a number I can reach you?"

M: "Oh, thank you, my baby is crying and my dog has that hungry look in her eyes. My number is 215-57..."

[fade]

No matter where you are, our OnStar operators are available 24 hours a day, even if your planet doesn't have that many."

[fade in]

OO: "And the towing company says they'll be there in a few months."

M: "Oh, thank you so much."

OO: "You're welcome and you be sure to feed that dog before he eats your child."

M: "Oh, I will! [laughs] Thank you OnStar!"

[Wiz]

LOL!

[billybudd]

He was too busy peeling potatoes to fight the Sardaukar properly.

[jslade]

Isn't AAA wonderful!

[Paul Atreides]

He just had too many days in which he wasn't himself.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I bet they landed a speaker nearby that said "red rover come over"...and voila?

[PGalt]

Great news! Thanks for posting. And a bump for funny FReepers.

[EODTIM69]

"The Mars Rover should have used a 5-iron instead of a fairway wood and then it wouldn't have had that problem in the first place."

I was thinking we send Tiger Woods to space camp, blow thirty million there. Then after he is all trained up, shoot him towards Mars in a four-hundred million dollar ship. Let him take a crack at the little squirt with a sand wedge.

Man, that was a long way to go for a golf club joke. But seriously; when is NASA going to be exposed for the fraud, money pit, waste and abuse institute that they are?

A fun fact: The first men to land on the moon smuggled a golf club and some balls. They even drove around on the surface of the moon in a little cart that looked a lot like a golf cart. Only a man would go to the moon in the search for a birdie hole.

SSgt Tim

[EODTIM69]

Bravo

[bannie]

Shame on y'all for picking on Uncle Owen. He did the right thing: HE read the script! ...tisk...

[bannie]

"Ride 'em in.
Let 'em out.
Ride 'em in.
Let 'em out.

[bannie]

"

[TAdams8591]

Will wonders never cease!!!! Simply amazing!

[AmishDude]

Thanks. Welcome to the club.