FC: Mars Orbiter error statement; still in Wyoming

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I just got back from a backpacking trip into Grand Teton National Park
here in Wyoming. I hiked to the continental divide at about 10,000 feet and
pitched my tent in the rocks and snow at the foot of a glacier. Then I
shivered through the 5 degree F. night as the wind twisted through the
peaks. There are grizzlies and wolves in the park (and I presume that
Grizzly Bear Lake is named that for good reason), but I only heard howling
in the distance after midnight. I am here through the weekend covering a
Republican leadership convention -- aka junket so Congresscritters can go
golfing and sightseeing -- and will return email and voicemail when I get
back. --Declan]


> Committee on Science
> F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
> Ralph M. Hall, Texas, Ranking Democrat
> www.house.gov/science/welcome.htm
> September 30, 1999 
>
> SENSENBRENNER STATEMENT ON MARS ORBITER ERROR
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. - NASA earlier today announced the preliminary findings
> from the investigation into last week's loss of the $125 million Mars
> Orbiter mission show human error between command stations. "The peer review
> preliminary findings indicate that one team used English units (e.g.,
> inches, feet and pounds) while the other used metric units for a key
> spacecraft operation. This information was critical to the maneuvers
> required to place the spacecraft in the proper Mars orbit," read NASA's
> press release. House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.,
> (R-WI) released the following statement:
>
> "I'm speechless."




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