Mars Pathfinder & Sojourner

Mars Pathfinder launched on December 4, 1996, as a proof that Mars could be reached ‘faster, better, cheaper.’ On July 4, 1997, it slammed into the atmosphere, deployed a parachute, fired retrorockets, and bounced across Ares Vallis cocooned in giant airbags — an audacious landing scheme that worked perfectly. Out rolled Sojourner, a microwave-oven-sized robot and the first rover ever to drive on another planet.

Sojourner covered about 100 meters over 83 days, analyzing rocks with nicknames like Barnacle Bill and Yogi, while the lander returned 16,500 images. The mission’s website became one of the internet’s first global events, and its airbag landing and rover operations paved the way for Spirit, Opportunity, and everything that followed.