Dec 3 1999
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (5MB PDF)
NASA officials and Mars Polar Lander Mission scientists were unable to communicate with Lander following its scheduled landing. The team had expected the first signal to arrive from the spacecraft at a tracking station in the Mojave Desert in California, approximately 30 minutes after the scheduled touchdown at 3:01 p.m. (EST). A second attempt to communicate with the craft had produced nothing. Before the craft's landing, tracking data indicated that Lander had veered slightly off course. Flight controllers had fired its thrusters briefly to alter its approach angle slightly. Flight Operations Manager Sam Thurman had expressed his satisfaction with the new tracking data, which showed the craft heading for a point within a mile of its target.
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