PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, Aug 4:
NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter was about a week away from wrapping up an 11-month journey to the Red Planet in 1999 when engineers noticed a problem – the spacecraft, designed to study Mars’ environment, was not where it was supposed to be. The gap grew alarmingly over the next few days. On September 23, Climate Orbiter began the brake to enter Mars’ orbit as planned, but disappeared behind the planet 49 seconds early, severing radio contact with Earth. It was never heard from again. (agencies)