Posted by jburk to Mars Polar Lander at December 7, 1999 12:00 PM

NASA’s Mars team was poised to try one last-ditch effort between midnight and dawn Tuesday to contact its missing lander on the Red Planet. Hopes had all but faded that they will recover the Mars Polar Lander or the two microprobes it was carrying when the craft entered the Martian atmosphere Friday, handlers admitted early Monday.