NASA seems to be backing away from hunting for life on Mars

The agency’s shifting priorities are putting a 50-year search for Martian life in limbo

A photo illustration that splices together parts of the moon, a satellite and graphics related to space travel.

Photo-illustration by Valerie Chiang; From top: JPL-Caltech/NASA; JPL/NASA, MSSS; NASA; NASA

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It was America’s bicentennial, July 4, 1976, and NASA was hoping not to see fireworks.