Did you hear that?

That was the sound of the US--you and I--just losing nearly one-half billion dollars when the satellite NASA launched yesterday malfunctioned, seconds into flight and was destroyed.  Check this out:

NASA science satellite lost in $424 million launch failure

by William Harwood

NASA's Glory atmospheric research mission satellite crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean early today after a protective nose cone fairing failed to separate during launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket. The $424 million failure was the second in a row for the Orbital Sciences booster following the 2009 loss of another environmental satellite due to a similar nose cone malfunction.

It gets worse, too.

With this loss, last night, along with the loss of the previous satellite 2 years ago, in 2009, according to the article,  "For NASA, the second Taurus XL failure in a row drove losses to nearly $700 million.

Ouch.  That makes the total loss here three-quarters of a billion dollars.

I would like to believe we--again, the US--can still "do" space, wouldn't you?

But the 2nd loss?

In a row?

Yikes.


Try to have a great weekend, y'all.

Link:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-20039222-239.html