I’m a sap. A soft touch. A bleeding-heart. Even for machines…
All I could think of after I read it was that Ikea commercial where the smarmy Swedish guy tells me I’m silly for feeling sorry for a lamp. So where do I join the Facebook group to bring Spirit home, anyway? 
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one! Poor Spirit…
I was all weepy at the end of that, and had to tell Oni no Husband not to read it - he’s even more soft-hearted than I am. However, he accidentally saw the first few panels, and was really upset by them.
We talked about it at dinner last night, and we think that the comic is wrong. Spirit had to have known it was a one-way trip. All spacecraft (except the manned ones) know that they’re one-way explorers.
He wouldn’t be looking to go home - he would be thinking of himself as THE FIRST EARTHLING SETTLER ON MARS!!!
That made us feel a lot better about it. So, we decided - the comic is wrong.
I was saddened by that XKCD also. As much as we anthropormorphize the Mars rovers, they don’t know or feel anything. We humans should be proud of the people who built the rovers, got them to Mars, and ran them for years past their design life. This is an ending, but the ending of something that was more successful than anyone could have anticipated.
Good grief, that had me welling up too. But I agree that we should instead look at Spirit as a pioneer and applaud him for the thankless task he immortalized.
We’re going to recover them just as soon as we land, and turn them into monuments at the first human colony. I mean, we *are *still going, right? Right? Bugger. Looks like I packed my p-suit for nothing, now.
Awww. Poor Spirit. He just needs a girlfriend.
Maybe it’s cos I’m a bit poorly at the moment, but this one really bummed me out. Thanks for nothing XKCD!
Then I saw this one and now I love it again 
That still won’t be home, though.
Did he not spend more time on Mars rather than Earth? Maybe he considers Mars to be home, now.
As it happens, I have a counter for that cartoon.
“that is because you are crazy”
I actually referenced that in the OP. 
That comic actually makes me happy, because I hate machines that pretend to have feelings, and enjoy seeing them get their comeuppance.
Spirit doesn’t need a girlfriend. Spirit needs a fan or wiper or a bit of wind.
Stop, Dave. I’m afraid.
Yeah, I got a little misty. 
Hopefully one day within my lifetime we’ll be good enough at this we can bring them home.
He knew the mission.
But did Spirit volunteer or was Spirit drafted? Hmmm…
Is this based on anything real? Or is it just a random comic?
