NASA is understandably embarrassed by the recent loss of its Mars Climate Orbiter as a result of confusion between imperial and metric units. In view of this, the following paragraph from a press release put out by the Kennedy Space Center on 11 September 1998, soon before the orbiter's launch, is rather enlightening:
"At liftoff, the spacecraft will weigh 1418 pounds (3120 kilograms). It is 7.6 feet (25 meters) high, 6.4 feet (21 meters) deep, and 5.4 feet (18 meters) wide. Power is provided by a single large solar array which is 18.6 feet (61 meters) long and 6.8 feet (22 meters) across. After cruising in space for 286 days, the spacecraft will be captured in an elliptical orbit around Mars."
This press release is preserved in its original form on a number of websites, including those of