Operation Jolly Roger was the name of a secret project by NASA for their spacecraft Sojourner 1 during its mission to Mars.
History[]
Soon after the three competitors had launched their spacecrafts for the Race to Mars and cut their initial burn, Houston gave the go for what they called "Operation Jolly Roger".[TA 1] Accompanied by a chantey[TA 2] broadcasted through Kelly Baldwin's outer space pirate radio, Sojourner hoisted two giant solar sails, very much to the surprise and the dismay of the other two participants. Bill Strausser at Helios' Mission Control quickly calculated, that the small but constant acceleration Sojourner would receive from the photon radiation pressure on their sails would result in beating Phoenix by 8 days.[1]
Reactions[]
Dev Ayesa smashed a monitor in Helios' control room after Bill told him that all his proposed solutions to get back the lead would either not work or be way too dangerous.
New Roscosmos director Lenara Catiche accused the United States of "playing dirty tricks" on Soviet state television. In consequence, their Mars-94 spacecraft initiated another burn, which finally led to the damage of their engines and an imminent reactor meltdown, and the need of a rescue mission.[1]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- ↑ Jolly Roger is the traditional name for the flag flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack.
- ↑ The song played by Kelly was Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me), the theme song for the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney theme parks.
See also[]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 For All Mankind TV series, season 3, episode 4, "Happy Valley"