The 5 year long 3 month mission...

Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's little Mars rovers that could, have strung out their 3 month planned mission to the five year mark. For every screw up we've seen in space exploration, there's a big win to go along with it. This little pair of well-designed wee machines has proven the point by operating 20 times their expected lifespan and they may yet accomplish more before entropy finally claims them.

I give NASA a big thumbs up and hope more remote exploration can be done using this model.

Spirit and Opportunity at the 5 year mark