P ete Theisinger, the longtime employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who led the Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rover missions to Mars, died June 26 after a long illness. He was 78.

Work on the Mars Exploration Rover program followed two ... Section A, Page 23 of the New York edition with the headline: Peter C. Theisinger, 78, Who Led Way in Putting Rovers on Mars, Dies.

Peter Theisinger worked on missions to six planets and landed three NASA rovers on Mars. Colleagues remember him as a giant at JPL, where he made a major mark over 50 years.

There is no joysticking a Mars rover, because it’s so far away that a command sent at the speed of light across interplanetary space takes four to 24 minutes to arrive. Driving always takes ...