Spirit and Opportunity

A and M got back the other day from a trip across the nation. They had a lot of fun at a family wedding and they got to visit with many of M's relatives, whom we only see every year or so (as opposed to J's relatives, whom we see about every other week). A seems to be speaking more and whispering less; I'm guessing that competing with other pre-schoolers for adult attention and just being in a house full of people probably contributed to this increase in audibility.

In a different development, I managed to get A to watch parts of "Roving Mars," a Disney / NASA / Lockheed production. I started him watching the movie in the middle, where a CGI rocket launches off of Earth to Mars with musical accompaniment composed by Philip Glass. He liked it a lot, especially the part where the Mars atmospheric entry engineer is explaining that if they open Spirit Mars Rover's parachutes too early, the speed will shred the parachutes; but if they open the parachutes too late the rover will crash into the planet.

The CGI is really fun (if a little bit over-audible) and they show the air-bags the rovers used to bounce onto Mars, and the rovers unfolding their solar arrays and arms. I think A (and M) liked the RAT unit used to drill holes into rocks. But still, the question A asked most was, "J, how come if they open up the parachutes too late the rover will CRASH into Mars?"

I am hopeful that a real movie about real NASA probes will focus him on Mars, and off of "Space Chimps."