Antares rocket explodes just seconds after liftoff, investigation underway

People seem to forget sometimes how fucking BIG of an accomplishment getting into outer space, let alone the moon, is/was. It's scary, dangerous science and incredibly rewarding when it works, but statistically tragic.
 
People seem to forget sometimes how fucking BIG of an accomplishment getting into outer space, let alone the moon, is/was. It's scary, dangerous science and incredibly rewarding when it works, but statistically tragic.

Oh come on it's not like it's rocket science..........................















Oh wait..it is :Wave:
 
Was supposed to launch yesterday but some (rich white) douche in a sailboat drifted into the restricted down range zone 10 minutes before liftoff, forcing a scrub. Makes you wonder what if...?
 
Shit happens. Like Andy said, you shouldn't be surprised when it happens, but astonished when it doesn't. Also, unmanned space vehicles have a much lower safety factor than manned spacecraft. The shuttle had double and triple redundant systems. That costs big bucks.
 
Apparently these rockets were built by Russia in the '60s and mothballed. This company that's contracted for these launches dug them up and modified them, but they're still almost 50 fucking years old.

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Apparently these rockets were built by Russia in the '60s and mothballed. This company that's contracted for these launches dug them up and modified them, but they're still almost 50 fucking years old.

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If true, that is criminal. Good thing nobody died.
 
Apparently these rockets were built by Russia in the '60s and mothballed. This company that's contracted for these launches dug them up and modified them, but they're still almost 50 fucking years old.

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Thats bullshit.
 
I did read that these were reconditioned Soviet engines. What we reconditioned was the fuel line and that was what failed. What's interesting is that the Soviets never had a problem with the fuel line. Go figure.
 
Everything you want to know and more about the engine they used

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK-33
Amazing but not surprising:

The N-1 launcher originally used NK-15 engines for its first stage, and a high-altitude modification (NK-15V) in its second stage. After four consecutive launch failures and no successes, the project was cancelled. While other aspects of the vehicle were being modified or redesigned, Kuznetsov improved his contributions into the NK-33 and NK-43, respectively.[5] The 2nd-generation vehicle was to be called the N-1F. By this point the Moon race was long lost, and the Soviet space program was looking to the Energia as its heavy launcher. No N-1F ever reached the launch pad.[6]

When the N-1 program was shut down, all work on the project was ordered destroyed. A bureaucrat instead took the engines, worth millions of dollars each, and stored them in a warehouse. Word of the engines eventually spread to America. Nearly thirty years after they were built, disbelieving rocket engineers were led to the warehouse. One of the engines was later taken to America, and the precise specification of the engine was demonstrated on a test stand.[6]

About 150 engines survived, and in the mid-1990s, Russia sold 36 engines to Aerojet General for $1.1 million each. This company also acquired a license for the production of new engines. Aerojet has modified and renamed the updated NK-33 to AJ26-58 and AJ26-62, and NK-43 to AJ26-59.[7][8] [9]
 
I was sitting in my front yard waiting to see this launch go into the sky. I'm about 130 miles from Wallops Island and can usually see the streak of rocket exhaust in the sky when they do launches from there. After waiting 5 minutes post launch time, I assumed it was just too cloudy for me to see anything. I went inside and the news was breaking the story of the failure. I've worked in the space/satellite industry for 20+ years an it's always tough to see those, even when they're not yours.

There is a lot of optimism for Elon Musk's SpaceX company and their Falcon platform. He has a good track record so far of doing things smartly and getting it right. This Orbial failure, along with a previous one a few years ago on Sea Launch, will likely only help his business.
 
Kinda' hard to believe that over 50 years into the "space age" and we've still got nothing better than a big, chemical explosion as a device to propel ourselves into space.
 
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