1999--A Year in Review... News story originally written on
January 6, 2000 It was another exciting and frustrating year for
the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led
to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great
century of discovery. Unfortunately, the headline of the year
must be the problem with Mars exploration. The Mars Climate
Orbiter was lost because of a simple math error. The next
attempt, landing the Mars Polar Lander, also failed. Scientists
are still looking for the cause of this disaster. The good news
is, not every mission was a failure. The Far Ultraviolet
Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) was deployed in June without a
hitch, and the Chandra X Observatory had a successful launch in
July. FUSE will use a spectrograph to study the Big Bang.
Chandra takes images in X ray light, allowing scientists to see
distant objects in a new way. The Hubble Space Telescope
continues on its path to success. With its help, scientists
found the true Hubble Constant. Images of the Ri