Mars Odyssey

When Stanley Kubrick first created '2001, A Space Odyssey,' we doubt he anticipated that a space mission as incredible was actually possible. However, when the Odyssey entered Mars' orbit on October 24th, 2001, this is exactly what happened.

Originally scheduled for a 60-day mission, this NASA-developed project began a 917-day expedition instead, in which spectrometers and electronic images were used to hunt for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. The hope was to discover whether there was ever life on Mars. Considering it is still in service even today, it has broken all records by becoming the longest survivng continually active spacecraft in orbit around the Earth.