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Space is SO Totally Awesome!

by Tina Beychok

If you think that talking to teenagers is impossible, try talking to a Mars rover and you just might get the same responses.

One of the more unusual spin-offs from heightened public interest in the Spirit and Opportunity rovers is that both now have their very own Web logs (or 'blogs), hosted on Live Journal (http://www.livejournal.com). You can find out just what spiritrover thinks about NASA's wakeup music and what opportunitygrrl enjoys most about roving around on Mars. Be warned, however, that these two act just like bratty teen-aged sisters. What really makes these blogs unique is that they are interactive. Not only can you read up on what the rovers are up to, and which other missions they find “dreamy”, but you can post comments and get replies back!

The girls aren't the only spacecraft to have their own blogs on LiveJournal. Stardust, Beagle (who has two journals), Cassini and even the Hubble Telescope can give you updates on their latest doings. (These blogs are, of course, unofficial and not endorsed by NASA.) The list of LiveJournal usernames for various space missions keeps growing, The LiveJournal account inspace has set up a “friends list” to make finding these blogs and any other space blogs easy — http://www.livejournal.com/users/inspace/friends.