Mountain View's NASA Ames Research Center played major role in rover landing on Mars

So exciting! My dad, Sherwood Chang, was Chief of the Exobiology Branch at NASA Ames Research Center for many years and worked on the first Mars missions (Viking 1975/76) as well as the Apollo Lunar Science Program. I remember big excitement in our Palo Alto home when he got an emergency call to fly to Houston in the middle of the night to investigate movement detected by the Viking Lander!

He says they first started thinking about how to make this lander and taking Martian soil samples to analyze and return way back then in 1976. We're so lucky to have Ames Research Center, on the leading edge of science and exploration, right in our own backyard. Congratulations to the generations of scientists who carried the work forward to this stunning accomplishment!

So interesting to hear of Sherwood Chang, Palo Altan.
A "3AM" phone call to grab a flight to Texas to investigate inexplicable movement on Mars? Are you kidding me? Who get's those kinda calls? Superman? Batman? No - Sherwood Chang, Amazing Scientist!
Congratulations to all involved in this project. I sure hope I'm around in the 2030s to see what's in the soil samples - fingers crossed, it's LIFE.

YEAH! Congratulations to all for a fantastic achievement.

Thank you soooooooooooo much NASA Ames Research people for your years of hard work, and for your incredible contributions to our world! Hope I'll still be alive in 10 years when those rocks are returned to earth from Mars. That will be so exciting!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! :)