STEVEN SQUYRES

You create a pile of dirt and then drive over it. We may have to learn to drive all over again.

I can't ever remember not wanting to be a scientist.

That's really what science is just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out.

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like.

When we opened our eyes, we saw bedrock exposed in the walls of the crater.

We need to drive like hell and get to the hills before the winter sets in.

These rovers are living on borrowed time. We're so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we're living day to day.

This whole mission has surpassed all of our expectations.

We didn't know if the rover could climb up or down the hills of the crater.

This whole mission has surpassed all of our expectations.

You create a pile of dirt and then drive over it. We may have to learn to drive all over again.

When we opened our eyes, we saw bedrock exposed in the walls of the crater.

It's not going to fill in the potholes. It's not going to put a roof over people's heads. What it does is it helps to address really fundamental questions of who we are, where we came from, by which I mean we can learn how life came about.

We didn't know if the rover could climb up or down the hills of the crater.

I can't ever remember not wanting to be a scientist.

We're stunned by the diversity of rocks. This stuff looks like it was put into a blender.

Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.

These rovers are living on borrowed time. We're so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we're living day to day.

We need to drive like hell and get to the hills before the winter sets in.

I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like.

The thing that sets Mars apart is that it is the one planet that is enough like Earth that you can imagine life possibly once having taken hold there.

That's really what science is just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out.

The rocks, to a great extent, look swept clean. It's a much cleaner surface than what we had a right to hope for.

What we initially conceived as a fairly simple geologic experiment on Mars ultimately turned into humanity's first real overland expedition across another planet. Spirit explored just as we would have, seeing a distant hill, climbing it, and showing us the vista from the summit. And she did it in a way that allowed everyone on Earth to be part of the adventure.