#138...am i the only one to wonder...

....am i the only one to wonder if the inspiration to fold up the Mars rover - Spirit - so that it could fit into the pod came from all those nerds playing with their Transformer toys as kids...

i mean, really - this rover is a lot bigger than the one launched and landed in the 70's...one of the big problems this team was faced with was how to fold up the new rover so that it could fit inside of the original pod design from the 70's..

while watching the Nova special tonight about the challenges they faced with this launch - it suddenly occurred to me that they didn't solve that problem using their MIT educations...it came from the hours of folding up and unfolding their toy robot/airplane/racingcars..

hmm...gives new meaning to the words..."men will be boys"...

in any regard - i am damn proud of them.  no small feat indeed - landing on a small spot a few million miles away...and then having E.T. phone home..