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Picture of the Day · NASA
Pathfinder on Mars
2026-07-04
On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.
via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. A. Wirtanen
- Discovery site
- Lick Obs.
- Discovery date
- 14 July 1947
- Named after
- William Wright , (observatory's director)
- Alternative designations
- 1947 NH
~4 min read
Article
1747 Wright, provisional designation 1947 NH, is a stony asteroid and a sizable Mars-crosser, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 14 July 1947, by American astronomer Carl Wirtanen at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California. It was named in memory of astronomer William Hammond Wright.