On the 20th anniversary of the rocket launch to Mars, a scientist who oversaw a mission to search for signs of life on the red planet has been remembered.
On June 2, 2003, the Beagle 2 Lander was launched into orbit aboard the Mars Express spacecraft by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The lander that came so "close to success" was the brainchild of Colin Pillinger, a Bristol native who passed away in 2014.
I was so proud of him, his sister said, "It only feels like yesterday.".
"Our family was treated like royalty at the launch. It was an amazing day, and I got to meet a lot of famous people," Doreen Lindegaard recalled.
The Beagle 2 was built with the intention of performing an astrobiology mission to Mars, but it ultimately failed in that endeavor.
On Mars' surface on Christmas Day of that year, the UK-built lander was due to touch down after a successful deployment from its mother spacecraft Mars Express in December 2003.
However, after its anticipated Mars landing time, Beagle 2 vanished without sending any communications to the ESA.
Until a NASA camera found it on the planet's surface in 2014, the fate of the spacecraft was unknown.
Ms. Lindegaard remarked: "Colin was very, very clever — he won the Maths prize at school every year. He spoke at an event to commemorate the launch anniversary.
He loved comic books, sports, and football, but he was also very much an ordinary boy.
"This professor was not your typical one. ".
The Beagle 2's design was worked on by Terry Ransome of Nailsea, Somerset.
Two decades ago, the engineer witnessed the launch of the rocket in Kazakhstan.
Mr. Ransome remarked that the night was quiet and dark.
"All of a sudden, the rocket engines fired, and sound and light burst forth; it was wonderful.
"We watched it take off into the sky, knowing with pride that it was carrying six years of our labor. ".
As part of the Journey to Mars exhibition at Aerospace Bristol, a seven-meter-tall sculpture of Mars and a model of the Beagle 2 lander are now on display.
Mr. Ransome will present illustrated talks to visitors about how Prof. Pillinger first presented the Beagle 2 spacecraft engineers with his design concepts.
