Word: planetful
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Indeed, after only a week on the surface of Mars, Pathfinder had conducted dozens of worthy science experiments, had begun to challenge at least one long-held perception about the red planet and had transmitted more than 1,700 photos of the landscape, many of which were incorporated into a "monster pan," a spectacular 360[degrees], three-dimensional, horizon-to-horizon mosaic image that, when viewed through 3-D glasses, is almost as good as being there. The mission had also achieved a historic first on Mars: a motor-vehicle accident...
Mars, of course, has offered the perpetual test of human uniqueness, and has lately become the proof. If life existed anywhere else under the sun, it should have been there. We have always given most-favored-planet status to Mars. How would you describe an elephant to a man from Mars? If a man from Mars were to visit Earth...? And so forth. Orson Welles broadcast bulletins of our scariest Martians; Ray Walston played our favorite...
Imagination was abetted by science. If life could evolve on little old Earth, why not on another planet in the same solar system, one that was a mere seven-months' flight away? Mars had a warm, dense atmosphere, water, floodplains. Last August brought news of a meteorite, most likely from Mars, containing minerals and other evidence of a long-past microbial life; a thrill was felt around the world...
...that we are alone in the universe? In a lovely piece in the New York Times, John Noble Wilford cited with some melancholy our "cosmic loneliness." One could go anywhere with that daunting thought. We could conclude that we humans are a special breed, appointed by universal forces to planet-hop and rule. It would be like us to think that--every dead brown rock on every dead brown planet serving to exalt our life by contrast. We are the fireworks in the darkened universe, the Chinese firecrackers, the Roman candles and the sparklers. In a few short decades...
Your poll showed that 13% of Americans believe intelligent beings from other planets have been in contact with members of the U.S. government. I think the numbers would have been higher if you had asked people if they thought U.S. government officials were from another planet. Why would E.T.s want to speak to anyone in our government? MARE MEYER Los Angeles...