I was unable to locate a text for this spoken word poem by Neil Hilborn. So put on your best listening ears. You may never hear a more touching poem about a machine.
This is about “Opportunity” (aka Oppy), the Mars rover that discovered water on the red planet.
NASA abandoned Oppy in 2018 after it (“she”) was terribly damaged by an epic dust storm. But, before bidding her farewell, the engineers tried for eight months to reach her. They sent her almost 1000 unanswered wake-up messages.
At the end, the engineers played her Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You”—a love song, the last in a long playlist of songs they’d transmitted to her.
Oppy had been expected to live on Mars for 3-6 months. Tended by NASA’s engineers, she survived for nearly 15 years.
Maybe what we can do for a machine on another planet, we can do for one another.
The Gentle Nudge
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Wowwowow! You are so right, Phyllis. I was already a fan of the Mars Rovers like Opportunity, and
I am now a big fan of Neil Hilborn. Thank you!
"She was a sparrow over blue ocean; she was shipwrecked
on a sparse red island. Oppy, small metal dog, hope on six wheels,
daydream that maybe we are not alone."
The little engine that could. What a sweet ode to Oppie!