With all the excitement of the seven minutes of terror (and glory), it’s easy to forget that there were seven years of suffering and hard work to make it all happen. Seven years of the life of people like Adam Steltzner or our friend Mark Rober.
I met Mark in Pasadena, California, before and after the landing. He’s a really cool guy. He joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) seven years ago and started to work in Curiosity right away. He was responsible for the design of a little part that, like all the rest, would be crucial during the science part of the mission that is starting now.
Seven years is a lot of time in the life of any human being. In Mark’s case, it was enough to see his mother die and the birth of his son. Here’s a video that talks about it, the often forgotten side of the space program — the long and arduous journey of a handful of people to make humanity go forward.
Gizmodo has been covering the Mars Curiosity rover live from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Check all the articles here.