Moment of glory

When the people at NASA get it right, as they did Saturday in landing the rover Spirit on Mars, the nation shares in the wonder and the pride.

Hours after landing, the golf-cart-sized craft was beaming home pictures of the Red Planet's rocky surface. Spirit's mission is to explore whether Mars ever sustained life as we know it. But already the flight has revived interest in space and confidence in NASA's ability.

Few government activities truly excite one's imagination. Yet after all the time and money that have been spent in America's storied history in space, it still boggles the mind to see the nation launch and fly a 400-pound, unmanned aircraft 100-million miles, land it safely at a precise target and immediately begin transmitting photos of Mars to living rooms across the world.

The flight was a marvel of navigation and design, but it benefitted, most of all, from rigorous testing. Indeed, mission managers were quick to point out how the heavy level of peer review contributed to the successful flight.

Spirit is expected to spend the next several days transmitting better images to Earth and preparing to explore the Martian surface. NASA believes Spirit landed in what could be an ancient lake bed. The rover will move across its landing site, studying the surface for signs that Mars once had ample water.

A twin rover, Opportunity, is scheduled to land Jan. 24, on the opposite side of Mars. NASA is studying Spirit's flight to see if changes should be made to Opportunity's descent and landing.

Many things, of course, could still go wrong. But NASA, which is slowly changing a stifling culture that contributed to the space shuttle disasters, deserves this moment of triumph. It should remember why the mission worked.

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