Famous last words intrigue columnist Clayton Hardiman

Last words say a lot about the person who utters them. Some have eve become famous.

Clayton Hardiman reflects on the last messages from space of explorer Pioneer 10 as famous last words in his column, "When you study famous last words, consider Pioneer 10's."

Hardiman wrote:

Think about famous last words. They only become famous once we realize their significance, and usually by then it’s too late to answer. Sometimes it’s even too late to take them down. After all, how many people -- even kings, queens and ministers -- keep a stenographer around their death bed?

It must be even worse for a space probe.

2001_03_0171.JPGThis is an artist drawing of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft passing by Jupiter in 1973. NASA last heard from Pioneer in March 2001.  

Ten years ago, NASA scientists detected a signal from deep space. It wasn’t an alien signal, at least not that we know of. It came from a probe of our own making. If there were any aliens involved in the message, they were using our own equipment to send it. It would have been a little like a burglar breaking into your house and typing an email to you on your own computer keyboard.

The signal came from Pioneer 10.

Pioneer 10 was -- is, might still be -- a flimsy spacecraft that we launched into space in 1973. That was four years after the historic landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, which means it was at the very infancy of humanity’s efforts to hopscotch past the planets and probe the darkness of outer space.

Actually, there had been earlier crafts in the exploratory Pioneer series, but all of them had been sent into orbit around the sun. This was the first such craft that we turned loose.

What are some famous last words that have inspired you? Share your comments below or return to the original column.