Good Night Oppy

[Phyrebrat]

I've been watching this outstanding documentary on Amazon Prime in bits and pieces over the last couple weeks and finished it tonight.

Has anyone seen it? I'd never think a documentary about the Mars Rovers would have me baaaawling like baby but I really had a lot of tears watching this, especially towards the end.

Outstanding

 

[Astro Pen]

Bless.
I also invested emotion heavily into them all. They just kept going and going so long after original mission that you couldn't help imagining that they had a irrepressible and genuine will to live. That they wanted to see it all. Call me a softy, I don't care.
I had the composite Mars horizon photo round my office until I retired I even did a painting of Opportunity on Mars many years ago. I'll post it if I can find it.

(Of course Huey, Louie and Dewey in Silent Running 1972 primed us to love these bots.)

 

[Phyrebrat]

Yes, whilst it was hard not to anthropomorphise Spirit and Opportunity, it was really the scientists and engineers that had me baaawling.

I'm often moved to tears in my own work with kids so it was a delight to see these guys so invested. And who wouldn't be? After all those years?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Haven’t seen the doc but a mate wrote a short story about the rover that broke us all

 

[Parson]

I have seen it and it is truly first class.

I think knowing anyone who invests heavily in doing a job they feel is important makes most of us very empathetic toward them.

 

[Toby Frost]

I honestly thought this thread was going to be about a Country & Western festival. I gather that's Grand Ole Opry.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Space and near-space environments are the perfect place for machines (and the worst place for living organisms).

 

[AllanR]

Spirit

xkcd.com

and

Opportunity

xkcd.com

 

[Astro Pen]

A snap of the painting, (photographed on the bath because the light is even)

 

[Phyrebrat]

A snap of the painting, (photographed on the bath because the light is even)
View attachment 106767

Damn you for making me send it to my Mac so I could see it properly

 

[Astro Pen]

Damn you for making me send it to my Mac so I could see it properly

I which case you probably noticed that I hadn't finished it.

 

[K. Riehl]

It was very good. I can recommend "The Farthest" on the Voyager program as another great look at exploration and discovery.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Watched Good Night Oppy over the past few days, and we all really enjoyed it. The family wants to re-watch The Martian now.

 

[JimC]

The Martian still makes me nuts because of the screwed up physics in the initial storm.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Watched Good Night Oppy over the past few days, and we all really enjoyed it. The family wants to re-watch The Martian now.

I found it quite emotional — especially the second half. The robots began to take on a character in the way the engineers and staff related to them.

 

[mosaix]

The Martian still makes me nuts because of the screwed up physics in the initial storm.

Okay, so there was an error in the opening phase of the movie that the author admits he got wrong but the rest of it is pretty good.