NASA Loses Another Climate Satellite On Launch

Climate science and NASA suffered a major setback on Friday, when a rocket carrying a climate observation satellite crashed into the ocean.

The mishap is a repeat of what happened when the space agency first attempted to launch a climate satellite in 2009. Reports suggest that failures in the rocket’s nose cone caused both crashes.

The timing could not have been worse, as NASA moves into a post-shuttle era and budget cutbacks threaten both the Agency and climate change research programs.

Back-to-back failures–the latest at a cost of about $424 million–are sure to give Republicans ammunition in their fight against climate change action and funding. 

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