NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe reacts in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the Mars Spirit rover sends a signal after successfully landing on the Red Planet, Jan. 3, 2004. The NASA rover plunged through the atmosphere of Mars and bounced down upon its rocky surface, beginning a mission in search of evidence that it was once suitable for life.
Steven Squyres, principal investigator, left, Peter Theisinger, project manager, center, and Rob Manning, project entry, descent & landing lead, all of the NASA Mars Spirit rover team, celebrate after looking at the first images to arrive from the rover, Jan. 3, 2004, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif.
Entry Descent and Landing Chief Engineer Wayne Lee recacts in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as they get a signal from Spirit after it landed, Jan. 3, 2004.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, in red, and JPL Director Dr. Charles Elachi embrace while looking at the first images arriving from Mars after the landing of the Spirit rover, Jan. 3, 2004, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The Spirit mascot, a toy stuffed lamb, can be seen to the left of Flight Director Chris Lewicki in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasedena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2004.
Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, a member of the engineering staff of the NASA Mars Rover mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., explains how he is using images and data from the Spirit rover on Mars to create a virtual landscape, Jan., 4, 2004.
Members of the Spirit operations team hold up 3-D images from the Spirit rover on Mars, Jan. 5, 2004, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, Calif.
Wearing special glasses, James Garvin, left, chief scientist for Mars exploration, and Don Savage, NASA public affairs officer, look at a 3-D image from the Spirit rover on Mars, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 5, 2004.
Thomas Starr King Middle School robotics teacher Steven Dworetzky uses a student-built model to demonstrate the rover's functions to his students, from left, Wendy Callejas, Mercedes Contreras, Edward Ajuchan, Martha Salazar, and Irene Lopez, on Jan. 7, 2004, in Los Angeles. Students around the world are working with NASA engineers in education programs during the mission.
Mars rover mission manager Jennifer Trosper uses a model to demonstrate how Spirit rover stood up to its full four-foot, nine-inch height and rested on its own six wheels for the first time, at news conference at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 10, 2004. Mechanical systems engineer Chris Voorhees is at right; an image of Spirit at its Mars landing site is projected at rear.
Mars Rover mechanical systems engineer Chris Voorhees uses his hands to demonstrate how the Spirit rover's wheels unfolded, at a JPL news conference after the spacecraft stood up to its full four-foot, nine-inch height and rested on its own six wheels for the first time, Jan. 10, 2004.
Steve Squyres, right, principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover project, and Mark Boyles, assurance manager, celebrate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., after receiving confirmation that the maneuver to get the Spirit rover off its lander was a success, Jan. 15, 2004.
Mars mission team members applaud the Spirit rover's success in rolling onto Martian soil, Jan. 15, 2004, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Jim Garvin, lead scientist for NASA's MER program, looks over a model of the Spirit rover during a daily status briefing, Jan. 23, 2004, in Pasadena, Calif. NASA received data from the Spirit rover that morning for the first time in two days, ending fears that the Mars mission may have come to a calamitous halt, but scientists said the rover's condition remained "critical" and restoring it to full function could take weeks.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe serves champagne to his colleagues to celebrate the rover Opportunity's successful landing on Mars during a news conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jan. 24, 2004. The six-wheeled rover landed at 9:05 p.m. PST in Meridiani Planum, believed to be the smoothest, flattest region on Mars. Meridiani is halfway around the planet from where Spirit landed.
NASA's Rob Manning, sitting far left, talks to Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Mission Control Center at NASA's JPL in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 24, 2004, following the safe landing of the Opportunity rover. Others from left: Chief Engineer Wayne Lee, California Congressman Adam Schiff, Texas Congressman John Culbertson, and former Vice President Al Gore.
NASA's Pete Theisinger, right, gestures "two for two" as he celebrates the landing of the second rover Opportunity with Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Charles Elachi, left, and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, Jan. 24, 2004, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.