The entire nation was captivated in 1969 when the US successfully sent man to the moon.  With each subsequent visit to the moon, the nation became less fascinated with the Lunar missions.  Many Americans wanted someone to visit somewhere else in space – and the planet Mars was a mystical place many of us dreamed we’d be able to visit.

On this day, January 3rd, in 1999 – NASA launched the Mars Polar Lander.  The goal of the mission was to study the climate and soil of a region very close to the South Pole of Mars.

Unfortunately, exactly 11 months after its launch – during the time when the Polar Lander was approaching Mars – communication with it was lost.  Contact was never regained making the project a failure and a major disappointment for NASA.  Fortunately, The Mars Polar Lander was an unmanned spacecraft, so no lives were lost as a result of the mission.