[en] Molybdenum/sodium (Mo/Na) and molybdenum/lithium (Mo/Li) heat pipes have been operated for long periods of time in a study of their resistance to failure by alkali metal corrosion. Some Mo/Na heat pipes have operated over 20,600 h at 1400 K without failure, while at least one similar heat pipe failed in less than 14 hours at 1435 K. Detailed post-mortem analyses which have been performed on three failed Mo/Na heat pipes all indicated impurity controlled corrosion of their evaporators. Impurities observed to be transported included carbon, oxygen, and silicon. A Mo/Li heat pipe that failed after 25,216 h of operation at 1700 K was also examined in detail. This failure was due to nickel impurities being transported to the evaporator resulting in perforation of the container tube by the formation of a low melting Mo-Ni alloy. Theoretical thermochemical calculations were conducted for these systems with the objective of corroborating the corrosion mechanisms in both types of heat pipes. The results of these calculations are in general agreement with the observed corrosion a phenomena