NASA's latest probe to Mars has made a successful touchdown.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/sto...4929209&page=1

I'll add an interesting quote here from one of the comments at that page, left by one Walker Evans.

...The truly amazing thing, the single thing that all of the "money wasted in space" people don't understand, is that the entire space program to date has only cost them $0.08 per day! And that is not factoring in all of the things we have gotten back, as noted above. If you figure those gains in, the space program has actually REPAID everyone's eight cents many, many times over. Unfortunately, most of them will not believe these figures even if you do the math right in front of them...

That figure seems very low to me. But Evans also provides an interesting list of the technologies derived from the space program which we already take for granted:

Without the advances gleaned from the space program every life saved by microsurgery - would have been lost; every life saved by CAT scans and MRI's - would have been lost. Every patient who hospital stay was made easier because remote monitoring allowed them to move around freely - would have been confined to bed... As I type with my computer is sitting on my lap, and is not physically connected to any internet ports; both of these wonders are a direct result of the space program.

i bet it wont come back -
the alien will have eat it...

lol

Yea....

Now I can start planning next vacation.

Clinton demands Mars be seated

by jpmassar

Sun May 25, 2008 at 06:46:57 PM PDT

Dateline: Kennedy Space Center, June 4, 2008:

Hillary Clinton announced that her campaign would continue "...until
every Martian voice is heard and respected." Pointing out that, as of
yet, no Martian delegates had been selected, "No one can say they have
won the nomination until each and every state -- red states, blue
states and little green states, have been heard from!"

(It gets even stranger after the cut)

jpmassar's diary :: ::

Senator Clinton then forced her way onto the launchpad and into the
****pit of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. She demanded to be flown to
Mars and back "in time for the Credentials Committee meeting in July",
so that she could bear witness to the legitimate claims of
a disenfranchised Martian populace.

While NASA officials were debating what to do, the shuttle
unexpectedly launched. A new mission controller by the name of Dean
Howard, (who claimed on his now-publicly-released resume to have been
the head of some obscure committee or other) apparently accidently hit
the 'BLASTOFF' button. He apologized profusely to Bill and Chelsea
Clinton, the people of West Virginia, and the current residents of the
space station, the shuttle's pre-programmed destination.

Senator Clinton is not expected to be able to return until November
7th.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5...264/990/522783

Bad news for the New York Senator there. Still, there's always 2012.

NASA has released a picture taken by the Martian Oribter of Phoenix descending with its parachute open.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24830355/

More pics:

http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=7

All this is fantastic, but I notice we havent found a cure for the common cold yet

All this is fantastic, but I notice we havent found a cure for the common cold yet

The Venusians are withholding their files on this subject.
We may have to resort to extreme measures - such as sending them all the expelled housemates from Big Brother.

well, there is no such living being called aliens? are they