CRS-3 Antares rocket explodes after launch

[quagmire]

The Antares rocket that was taking supplies to the ISS exploded shortly after launch. Probably the same defect that caused the failure of the engine during a static firing back in May.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL5eddt-iAo

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/us/nasa-rocket-explodes/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[Don't panic]

"There has been a vehicle anomaly"
tweet by Orbital Sciences, right after the explosion.

Understatement of the century.


i was watching it live on nasatv. initially it almost looked like the explosion wasn't the rocket, but just the launch pad.
well, luckily it wasn't manned, but that is terrible. another setback for our space industry, not to mention the needed supplies for ISS.
i can't even think about the poor suckers who had their research pegged on this launch. they must be suicidal.

 

[yg17]

Because everything is better with music:

http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=jHMmMgdcOSU

 

[MacNut]

The cool thing about this location is you can watch it from a lot of the east coast. The first attempt was delayed by a boat.

You can clearly see the problem right at launch. That thing did not have a chance. You just hope they can get a little higher in the sky before they blow.

 

[Peace]

A third of the payload was top secret.

 

[MacNut]

A third of the payload was top secret.

So now the NSA is spying on the astronauts?

Hey Houston, whats in the box. Nothing, just unpack it and leave it in the corner.

 

[Peace]

The rocket, which was built by Orbital Sciences Corp., was carrying an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft with about 5,000 pounds of cargo on board including classified equipment that uses sensitive cryptographic technology.

Shortly after the incident, an unidentified official on the range controller's audio channel noted that the cargo contained "class-5 crypto" and so the launch site must be kept secure.

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...gear-could-slow-recovery-of-cygnus-cargo.html

 

[zioxide]

I don't even wanna know how much money that flushed down the drain.. but damn, that was a hell of a fireworks show.

 

[rdowns]

I don't even wanna know how much money that flushed down the drain.. but damn, that was a hell of a fireworks show.

Was a rocket built by the private sector, you know, the infallible ones.

Meanwhile, the Russians have launched and docked a resupply rocket already.

 

[quagmire]

Was a rocket built by the private sector, you know, the infallible ones.

Meanwhile, the Russians have launched and docked a resupply rocket already.

Well if the engine was indeed the cause of the failure..... Russia's fault.

The engines are Russian built( made in the 1970's mind you) and were made for failed N-1 rocket.

----------

The cool thing about this location is you can watch it from a lot of the east coast. The first attempt was delayed by a boat.

You can clearly see the problem right at launch. That thing did not have a chance. You just hope they can get a little higher in the sky before they blow.

Looking at CRS-2's launch, everything looked fine until the exhaust plume changed when likely the rockets self-destruct mechanism activated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYYNc2_EqQY

 

[gkarris]

"There has been a vehicle anomaly"
tweet by Orbital Sciences, right after the explosion.

Understatement of the century.

Yeah, "Wardrobe Malfunctions" are a heck-of-a-lot better...

 

[Huntn]

Well if the engine was indeed the cause of the failure..... Russia's fault.

The engines are Russian built( made in the 1970's mind you) and were made for failed N-1 rocket.

Huh? Are these new engines of a 70s design or 30 year old engines?

Heads will roll! Fortunately no fatalities...

 

[quagmire]

Huh? Are these new engines of a 70s design or 30 year old engines?

Heads will roll! Fortunately no fatalities...

The engines were built back in the 70's for the N-1 rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne bought them in the 90's and refurbished and modernized them so they would work in US rockets.

 

[Huntn]

The engines were built back in the 70's for the N-1 rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne bought them in the 90's and refurbished and modernized them so they would work in US rockets.

Is there a known glitch with these engines?

 

[quagmire]

Is there a known glitch with these engines?

There was an engine failure back in May with one of the engines during a flight readiness test at Stennis( the engine wasn't in this rocket, was slated for 2015 use). Orbital and Aerojet Rocketdyne said they determined the cause. Though they kept the reason a secret to the public.

I bet after this failure and if it was indeed the engine that caused it (and it was the same issue that caused the engine failure during the test back in May), Orbital will have to be more transparent now. This could reek of the Challenger/Columbia disaster all over again.

On a side note, reading the youtube comments of the youtube video is hilarious. All the Russians bad mouthing the US easily forget the recent failures of their own rockets( Proton and the failed second stage that put a Galileo satellite in the wrong orbit).

 

[Huntn]

There was an engine failure back in May with one of the engines during a flight readiness test at Stennis( the engine wasn't in this rocket, was slated for 2015 use). Orbital and Aerojet Rocketdyne said they determined the cause. Though they kept the reason a secret to the public.

I bet after this failure and if it was indeed the engine that caused it (and it was the same issue that caused the engine failure during the test back in May), Orbital will have to be more transparent now. This could reek of the Challenger/Columbia disaster all over again.

On a side note, reading the youtube comments of the youtube video is hilarious. All the Russians bad mouthing the US easily forget the recent failures of their own rockets( Proton and the failed second stage that put a Galileo satellite in the wrong orbit).

But fortunately without the loss of life. Thanks for the info!

 

[MacNut]

But fortunately without the loss of life. Thanks for the info!

That we know of.

 

[quagmire]

The launch pad surprisingly escaped major damage.

Two of the launch facility’s four lightning protection towers were toppled in the fiery crash, but the pad’s 307-foot-tall water tower remains standing.

Even the rocket’s transporter, which routes electrical and fueling umbilicals to the launcher, survived the fireball as the booster impacted the ground feet from the pad’s launch mount.

“After up close visual inspections by the safety team, it still appears the launch site itself avoided major damage,” Orbital Sciences Corp., the company that built the Antares rocket, said in a statement Thursday.

“There is some evidence of damage to piping that runs between the fuel and commodity storage vessels and the launch mount, but no evidence of significant damage to either the storage vessels or launch mount,” Orbital’s statement said.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/10/31/initial-assessment-shows-antares-pad-intact/

 

[ucfgrad93]

That explosion was pretty spectacular. Hopefully they figure out what went wrong quickly.