NASA ROBOTIC ROVER TO BE SENT TO MARS, 2003-06-08 (photo)

The first of two robotic rovers sat on its Florida launch pad on June 8, 2003 ready to join an international armada to Mars in a quest to finally discover whether life ever existed on Earth's neighbor. The rover (pictured in this undated photo), a mobile robot about the size of a riding lawnmower built to range wherever scientists want it to go on the Martian surface, was just hours away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral when NASA announced it would be dubbed "Spirit". The Spirit, and the Opportunity rover that will be launched on June 25, will join Japanese and European satellites on their way to the red planet and two NASA satellites already orbiting Mars. The missions are taking advantage of a rare proximity between the planets that has cut the normal travel time from the usual nine to 10 months to just seven months for missions launched this year. REUTERS/NASA ME