Most scientists and engineers argue strongly for metrication, however, contending that the United States, alone among other industrial nations, is isolated and handicapped by its continued use of customary measures. (Liberia and Myanmar, formerly Burma, are the other holdouts against metrication.)

Sen. Claiborne Pell, Democrat of Rhode Island, a longstanding supporter of the metric system, has frequently tried to enlist all Federal agencies in a drive to achieve metrication. In a letter to President Clinton three years ago, he wrote: "I am sure that you will agree that in order for this nation's businesses to be truly competitive with the rest of the world, we must play by the same rules."

But ordinary Americans have resisted change, and they are not alone in continuing to use inches, pounds, quarts and degrees Fahrenheit. Even some scientists argue that the metric system, with origins in 17th-century France, is badly outdated and that if the United States is to change its customary system of measurement, the change should be to an entirely new system more compatible with the workings of modern computers.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which presides over some of the most advanced technology in the world, is still far from embracing the metric system wholeheartedly.

The space station NASA plans to begin building next year (at a cost of about $13.8 billion) will contain some metric fasteners and other odds and ends, but, for the most part, major components made by commercial manufacturers in the United States will be based on old-fashioned customary measures.

"We got pretty well into the space station design using inches and pounds," said Richard Weinstein, NASA's manager of engineering studies. "We'll accommodate the metric system where we can, but we simply cannot start over. The expense would be prohibitive."

Most of NASA's spacecraft are built using components manufactured by the aerospace industry, he said, "and the people who bend metal have stayed solidly with the inch-pound system."