But their hope has begun to fade. Well, NASA is bracing itself to endure a hefty measure of criticism. After all, the problems with Mars Polar Lander come on the heels of the loss of its sibling spacecraft, Mars Climate Orbiter, just three months ago. It was an embarrassing incident for the space agency, given the Orbiter burned up after flying too close to the planet's atmosphere because NASA forgot to convert navigation data into metric. Critics wonder whether the space agency, which has endured massive budget cuts, is trying to do too much, too fast, with too little.
Public support seems to be behind the space agency, however.
A similar USA Today Poll showed 72.4 per cent of its voters thought the missions should go on as well. And NASA, too, is standing firm. When we started, we said we'd push the boundaries and we'd lose some, but we haven't lost this one yet. Warren keep going. Canada Inc. Discovery Canada 2001.