Professor Colin Pillinger has sadly died at the age of 70. I always liked Prof Pillinger and followed his UK/ ESA Beagle 2 mission avidly. Hard to believe that its already 11 years ago. Despite Beagle 2 not landing on Mars, the whole journey, which he helmed, from concept to launch inspired us all. Even Damon Albarn and Blur got involved! Prof Pillinger put Mars on the map again and swept us up with his passion. He'll be sadly missed. RIP.
I remember meeting the very down to Earth, Professor Pillinger at an Eagle convention in Manchester. It was a few months before The Beagle 2 was due to land on Mars. He and his team had worked really hard and, naturally had high hopes for that little British spacecraft, with failure just not an option. Shame the way things turned out.
ReplyDeleteYes, we need more enthusiastic people like him.
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