1976 · Mars Lander Sampler Arm · Work 1100 of 1,871
A windowless test hall in California on a July morning, a wide bed of reddish-orange sand and dark stones under low floodlights from one side, on the sand a spacecraft lander three metres across, a light grey hexagonal body on three silver legs with round dish feet, a grey fabric cover over one side, a large grey dish antenna on a mast, two white camera towers, orange cable harnesses, a dark brown boom tube reaching out of a silver box housing, its small brass-coloured collector head drawing a furrow in the sand, every box plain and unmarked, a technician in a white shirt seen from directly behind, face turned fully away.