Quote:
Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
Our backward march continues... hey, Russia, can you help us with our rockets? We don't have any more German scientists from WWII.
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Because German rockets were that reliable:
Still, at least no-one was killed in this incident, and there'll be others...no new rocket is problem-free...the amount of times the Titan blew up during launch, but it became the most relied and trusted launch vehicle in the US arsenal, likewise NASA.
I think my favourite explosion was the Delta II in 1997, a ruptured SRM casing set off the auto-destruct thirteen seconds after launch.
Until we build a space elevator, or some form of mass driver then we're stuck with the old and inefficient solid-fuel propellant devices and the costs involved with them. It's all rather short-sighted...but humanity is, really, otherwise we'd have globalised the space program by now and actually be making strides to get an off-planet facility working.
EDIT: Oh...almost forgot my second favourite rocket fail, the Zenit 3SL, which managed to melt the launchpad underneath it and fall into the sea: