roving mars 420

We brought Stephen to his first movie in a theater yesterday. And it wasn’t just any theater, it was the British Film Institute IMAX where they were showing Roving Mars, a movie about the NASA Mars Exploration Rover mission.

The movie started with an explosion of sound showing off all that IMAX cinema can offer. The worst was being in the eye of a hurricane with the cacophony of cows mooing and houses splintering around us. I thought Stephen would freak out and demand to leave considering how sensitive he is to noise but he hung in there and only asked to leave one time. When I explained they were only showcasing the speakers’ capabilities, he stayed fixed in his seat.

He was enthralled with Roving Mars as soon as it begun. When we “flew” over the surface of Mars, he turned to me and said, “We’re moving!” and looked around to see if the theater was spinning. My favorite part of the movie was when the control center received the first green rover signal from Mars. I was so touched I had tears in my eyes. Yes, I cry over strange things.

Here’s a video of that moment and a review of Spirit and Opportunity’s first year on Mars:

And, of course, no experience would be complete without Stephen commemorating it in LEGO.

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BTW, if you’re ever curious what Stephen’s been making lately, there’s a slideshow in the middle column towards the bottom you can watch or click on to see the entire picture album.