 On Tuesday evening, one of Orbital Sciences and Terry's rockets exploded not long after leaving the launch pad at 6.22 in the evening Eastern time. Rockets can blow up. It's not exactly news, but we've gotten so used to seeing launches go off without a hitch that when there is a catastrophic anomaly like this one, it does come as a bit of a shock. The launch on Tuesday was part of Orbital Sciences' contract with NASA to resupply the International Space Station. And while the station is going to be okay until about March in terms of consumables, and we do have a progress and a SpaceX mission launching in the next few months, it is kind of devastating to lose one of those resupply missions. It is a big loss, and it is going to be a while until we figure out exactly what's gone wrong so that we don't repeat the same problem. But ultimately, losing a resupply mission to the International Space Station isn't the worst unmanned mission we've ever lost. Of course, when you're dealing with manned missions, the stakes are much higher, and that's a completely different story. In terms of unmanned missions, nothing was quite as bad as losing the TV3 satellite on the first ever Vanguard launch in 1957. Not only was that a devastating loss, it was a national embarrassment. July 1957 to December of 1958 was an international geophysical year, wherein more than 35 countries were contributing to different geophysical science programs. Among them was an American program to launch a satellite into orbit. After weighing the options of the available satellite programs, President Eisenhower signed off on the Navy's Vanguard rocket system. It was the only rocket that was completely American made and wasn't using any repurposed missiles or missile parts. It was a purely civilian-built rocket that could be used for scientific exploration of space with a peaceful end, not a military end. So while America had its hopes pinned on the Vanguard system, the Soviet Union snuck up and blew everyone out of the water, launching Sputnik on October 4th of 1957. A month later, on November 3rd, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2. It was two devastating blows to America, and still, everyone's hopes were resting on this tiny little Vanguard satellite. The need to get an American satellite into orbit became so pressing that technicians decided to just speed up the next test. Instead of the TV3 test shot being a test shot, it would now be the first attempt to get a satellite into orbit. The launch was no longer just about geophysical sciences and taking the first steps into space. Now the satellite carried on its little non-shoulders, the nation's hopes of getting into space and leveling the playing field with the Soviet Union. 16 minutes before noon on launch day, Vanguard's engines roared to life. It lifted off the pad, somewhat tentatively at first, then almost looked like it gave up. The rocket lost thrust after about four inches of flight then collapsed on itself as it settled back down of a launch pad, and it erupted in flames. The brief flight registered enough change in velocity that the satellite ejected itself thinking it was in orbit. But instead of ejecting itself into orbit, it ejected itself into a nearby puddle where it began broadcasting its signal for anyone to hear. And of course, the entire thing was broadcast on live television. The international media had a field day with the failed American launch attempt. The Vanguard satellite was nicknamed fail-nick, spate-nick, flop-nick, oops-nick, splat-nick. Any kind of joke poking fun at America's inability to launch a small satellite into orbit. It was a massive technological embarrassment and a huge loss of national prestige for America. It also didn't exactly allay Americans' fears that the Soviet Union was launching heavier and heavier payloads with its more powerful rockets. Launch failures happened for any number of reasons, from mismanagement of the rocket system to the launch pad issues to just a plain technological failure that nobody could have foreseen. At least this time, nobody is calling us a nation that can only produce flop-nicks.