In space, it's never too late.
That is, until NASA says it's game over.
But, after completing a post-mission evaluation of several NASA spacecraft, the agency has decided to extend eight missions, in light of their high scientific productivity, and each mission's potential to vastly expand and deepen our grasp of our solar system, and the great mystery beyond, according to a blog post on NASA's official website.
And with 12 more missions in development or deployment stages, the U.S. space agency is working with public and private partners worldwide to ensure that the 21st century is a most decidedly excellent century for science in space.
The renewed missions include New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, InSight Lander, Mars Science Laboratory (we call it Curiosity), MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Odyssey. Of course, if a spacecraft experiences a fatal system error, is destroyed or otherwise fails, then yeah, the mission is over.
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