UFO: Unaccounted-for flying object

Earlier today, a spacecraft was launched into space from a Russian submarine, funded by a group of space enthusiasts. I guess the unmanned ship cost about $2 million and was funded almost completely by private companies and individuals. Well, a few seconds after launch, they lost it. Yep, gone. I guess for awhile they thought it crashed in the sea due to some failure, but now they're not quite sure where it is. They don't know whether it's in low orbit or whether it crashed to Earth, but they do know that they're getting weak signals from it, after 5 hours of radio silence.

I find this funny. You launch a million-dollar piece of equipment into space, it goes a little bit off course, then no one can find it. In their defense space is a pretty big place, at least to my understanding, but really... WHO LOSES AN EFFING SPACECRAFT?! I mean, when I lose my video-camera every once in awhile, I used to think that I freaked out, but imagine if I lost something this big. I think that if I were the mission control dude in charge, I might go crazy or possibly explode in a cloud of confetti and party favours. I bet that would make it really difficult for the rest of the central control guys to track down the ship -- what with all the candy and shiny things lying all over the floor and computer terminals...

I'm wondering why they're not making a bigger deal about it being unaccounted for in low orbit, cause hey -- couldn't it crash in a densely populated area?