A slight miscalculation sent the roving vehicle Sojourner bumping into a large rock.

They are to deliver to the Martian surface identical 400-pound roving vehicles about the size of golf carts.

Engineers said they planned a long-shot effort to communicate with the spacecraft through one of the two roving vehicles still operating on the Martian surface.

The exhibit contains original spacecraft, space suits, and a lunar roving vehicle.

The roving vehicle contains several television cameras, a still camera and robot arms to take samples from the ocean floor.

A little after noon, the launcher had reached a depth of about 10,800 meters or 35,400 feet, and it released the smaller roving vehicle.

It will be the first time a roving vehicle has explored the surface of another planet.

One craft would deploy the roving vehicle to the surface.

For a whole year, the roving vehicles were as likely to bring sudden death as arrest or aid.

Another part of this mission might include delivering a large Russian roving vehicle to the ancient highlands.