[meteorite-list] Martian Reminder of a Pioneering Flight

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4592

Martian Reminder of a Pioneering Flight
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 21, 2015

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is studying an elongated crater 
called "Spirit of St. Louis" and a rock spire called "Lindbergh Mound" 
within the crater.

The crater and several features in and near it are shown in a recent image 
from Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam).

Throughout Opportunity's 11-plus years on Mars, the science team for the 
rover has picked crater names from a list of "vessels of exploration," 
including ships, spacecraft and aircraft. The names informally assigned 
for this crater and features in it refer to Charles Lindbergh's May 1927 
flight from New York to Paris in the airplane he named Spirit of St. Louis, 
the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis help lead the Opportunity 
mission. A news release from the university describes the connection between 
St. Louis and Lindbergh, at:

https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/St.Louis-crater.aspx

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 
Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. 
For more information about Opportunity's exploration of Mars, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

and

http://mars.nasa.gov/mer


Media Contact

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov 

2015-174