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Genesis Capsule Crashes; Chutes Blamed
Cyclotron_Boy writes "The Genesis probe (reported here) has crashed to the ground, near a road in the Utah desert. The stunt chopper pilots were not to blame, though. The drogue chute didn't open on re-entry. NASA TV is covering it currently. The choppers have landed near the probe, but no word yet as to the condition of the space dust." Many readers have also pointed to CNN's coverage. Update: 09/08 16:39 GMT by J : MSNBC has more coverage and a sad photo of the half-buried capsule: "The capsule broke open on impact. It was not yet clear whether the $260 million Genesis mission was ruined."
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
-- Revelation 8, NIV
Here comes the evil space germs to wipe us out. Better get that ark on the moon ready quick.
... is now just regular dust! Skills, NASA, really.
I mean, come on, they KNOW they have trouble with the whole "probes hit planet faster than we usually plan" thing, look at the Mars missions. Now, before you say, "But this is hard!" think which plan is more failure prone - leave probe in orbit, catch it with the shuttle or a soyuz or hell, have it cruise past the ISS, or just let it sit for a few years, nice and safe in orbit or "Let's have it drop through the sky like a bullet then deploy a chute and CATCH IT MID AIR! It'll be awesome!"
Simple is usually better, and in this case, simple won. Big time. Can't wait for crater pictures!
"Life's funny sometimes." "And sometimes it isn't." --Cat's Cradle
"Oops, I did it again!" is basically the reaction from Microsoft everytime a new security issue is found regarding InternetExplorer. Maybe NBC gave responsibility for this headline over to its partner.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Any time the press in mentioning the price tag in their headlines, you know you're screwed.
Score another victory for the "liberal" press, again bound and determined to discredit anything the government does that costs taxpayer money, and especially anything that could be construed as blasphemy against the Bible.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.