its rocket science you know Blooper reels (how not to rocket)

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Scott Manley breaks down what he thinks went wrong (engine failure about 15 seconds after lift off)...

 

 

...about 3:40 in this video is his hypothesis. 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Failure from yesterday...

 

 

...the fairing didn't open between stages which caused the upper stage to tumble out of control. Incident starting at 3:12

[Jim K Global Moderator]

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

China accidentally launches a Tianlong-3 rocket during a static fire test.

Whoopsie

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

I'm hoping that block of buildings was not residential.

[DocM]

Scott Manley's analysis 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Unfortunate there isn't any (so far) video of the actual failure ... but the LOX leak up to failure is pretty neat.

[DocM]

The S2 failure was rather non-spectacular. They should be returning to flight in the next week.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) test fire failure.

 

 

...pretty fireworks.

[DocM]

On 21/08/2024 at 21:32, Jim K said:

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) test fire failure.

 

 

...pretty fireworks.

Fire cause: propellant leaking from engines after shutdown, the pad did not have its own water supply and the tanks ran dry. Other suppression was inadequate. 

https://spacenews.com/fire-fed-by-leaking-engines-destroyed-abl-space-systems-rocket/

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 19/06/2025 at 12:16, Jim K said:

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's a f-ing bomb!!

This is why real rocket scientists don't base their designs on 1930's Flash Gordon comics...

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

 

 

First Australian made rocket ends in failure.

[DocM]

On 30/07/2025 at 11:29, Jim K said:

 

 

First Australian made rocket ends in failure.

 

[DocM]

On 19/06/2025 at 07:16, Jim K said:

 

Apparently a COPV (carbon over wrapped pressure vessel) used for helium failed, taking out propellant lines - which cascaded. The failure was due to mishandling by the assemblers. 

 They will do two more flights of this transitional design, then they switch to the all new V3. 

It being based on 1930s comic book rockets, no. It's based on sideways reentry concepts by NASA going back to the 1960s. One of those turned into the space shuttle, others have been explored by everyone from the Chinese (LONG MARCH 9) to Blue Origin and Relativity Space.

Most differ from Starship mainly in fin placement and shape, not sideways reentry which makes sense if you actually think about it. The idea is to present the largest possible surface area to minimize local heating, and the fins are not airfoils they are drag brakes. Think about how a  skydiver uses his hands & legs to steer.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Big boom.