The Mars Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Spirit, landed on Mars on January 4, 2004. Its twin, rover Opportunity, launched on July 7, 2003 lands on Mars 21 days after Spirit on January 24, 2004. Spirit remained active until March 22, 2010. NASA was not able to regain contact with Spirit and officially concluded its recovery efforts May 25, 2011.
