NASA Satellite Crashes Into Ocean After Failed Launch

The rocket launched Friday didn’t achieve the velocity to reach orbit.

Good thing the world is mostly made of water. NASA officials said their Glory satellite slammed into the Pacific Ocean Friday morning after the protective shell on the rocket carrying it failed to separate, weighing it down and preventing it from reaching orbit. The $434-million satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Friday morning for what was intended to be a three-year mission to collect data on how aerosols, the tiny particles in the atmosphere that trap sunlight, affect the Earth’s climate. The launch was initially scheduled for last week but glitches led to a last-minute scrub. In a similar incident two years ago, the same type of NASA rocket used in Friday’s mission crashed near Antarctica.