As has been widely noted, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were in the control room at JPL during the landing of Opportunity. (We trust that controllers followed the advice of a recent Opus cartoon and made sure the governor stayed away from the controls.) Also present were former Vice-President Al Gore and former California governor and US senator Pete Wilson. One wonders if they would have been there had the Spirit landing failed, raising doubts about the success of Opportunity?
My guess is that Schwartzenneger and Gore were just outside the door of the control room, insulated from any potentially bad news of a failed landing. It’s classic political wrangling by risk-averse staffers. The sad thing is, it’s so transparent. If I was governor, I would be right there (at the pleasure of the crew, of course).
That said, it was an appropriate thing for the governor and former VP to be on hand.
I’m just glad Dr. Wayne Lee wore his lucky USA shirt both times.