The Opportunity Mars rover was supposed to last a little more than three Earth months, and ended up surpassing 14 years.
, Squyres was overseeing a team that was changing, bringing in a whole new generation of Mars explorers who as time went on, were in high school or even middle school when the mission launched. No matter anyone's age or experience, Squyres tried not to let his three decades of time on the Mars mission get in the way of good feedback.
The side effect was that team members got attached to the mission, and of course, the rover. Young engineers quickly got accustomed to the project culture, to the extent that Squyres noticed something interesting on theof Feb. 13, 2019 when a dust storm finally stopped Opportunity's journey forever. "It was the first mission they were on," he continued."It was looking like the adventure of a lifetime, and it was over too soon. Yeah. I think they took it harder. I think those of us who've been at it for decades, it so much exceeded our expectations. It wasn't that hard to take."Squyres added that"Good Night Oppy" shows well the human side of space exploration, even if he had tiny quibbles with some inaccuracies.