BREAKING: NASA Rocket explodes on launch

a reply to: Petros312
he also said there was some dangerous instruments but quickly changed it to classified cargo .

maybe they were taking some space weapons for testing up there .

a reply to: tom.farnhill

Classified doesn't mean some super-secret space weapons, or even anything interesting. Much of the work I do is "classified" or "secret" simply because it is to do with the Government, but I can assure you there are no aliens, orbital beam weapons, star destroyers or Elvis clones involved.

As to the OP - this is what you get when you use the cheapest contractor who bases their rockets on Russian designs, who have a hard enough time getting their own military reliable launch platforms, so it calls into question the quality of their export market.

WaPo is reporting that they used rocket engines left over from the Soviet space program in the early 1970s.

not the design--the actual engines, sitting in a warehouse!

www.washingtonpost.com...

"And as the Soviet Union abandoned the idea of putting cosmonauts on the moon, those engines languished in Russia “without a purpose,” reported Space Lift Now.
That was until they were snapped up by Dulles-based Orbital Sciences, which built the rocket that exploded. It uses two modified versions of those Russian engines to propel missions to the International Space Station, according to the company’s user’s guide. To be clear, investigators say they do not know what caused Tuesday’s explosion, which destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment. But some observers are questioning those Soviet-era engines."

wow, I can't believe they aren't using new stuff!?

"The engines were far from perfect, but Orbital scientists nonetheless hailed them as unlike anything in the United States. “As we went through testing, we did discover there were some effects of aging since they had been in storage for awhile, including some stress corrosion cracking,” Culbertson conceded at the time. “That’s what we [corrected] with weld repairs and other inspections.” The company’s “user guide” boasts that the engines, “refurbished with modern components,” have “an extensive test history.”

hopefully Mr. Oberg can step in and help us out with this.

a reply to: stumason
yes i do understand what classified means, i also have worked contracts where we were driven to the sites in a coach with blacked out windows so we did not know its location .

the point i was making was that he said dangerous instruments but quickly changed it to classified cargo .

maybe it was just a slip of the tongue and means nothing but thats what we are here for , thats the nature of this site .

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Light soul

That's what happens when you purchase parts from China. You may get them dirt cheap, but they lack the quality you get when they're made in the U.S.A..

Yup Quality American engineering......




sorry to make a crass point but American, Russian, Chinese or European? Doesn't matter same problems happen to all.

This was a slap in the face (a very needed one) to the US. We are effin inept! And we can prove it!!!!!

a reply to: tom.farnhill

In that case, he could have simply meant that there may have been toxic materials (in fact, there was almost certainly toxic materials) present on the spacecraft. Quite a few satellites these days have radioactive power sources, for example.

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: tom.farnhill

In that case, he could have simply meant that there may have been toxic materials (in fact, there was almost certainly toxic materials as it was a solid booster) present on the spacecraft. Quite a few satellites these days have radioactive power sources, for example.

I hear there was Hydrazine in there. If so it creates a pain for clean up crews.

a reply to: crazyewok

Aye, just read that the Antares doesn't have a solid booster, but a liquid mix of kerosene and LOX, so yes it would have been a toxic cloud of crap just from the rocket, much less any payload.

Phew, good thing it was unmanned yo. Also, that's a lot of money that just exploded.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Light soul

That's what happens when you purchase parts from China. You may get them dirt cheap, but they lack the quality you get when they're made in the U.S.A..

That was most certainly the case 30 years ago. It is just not so anymore though. Every product manufactured in China comes with a mandatory one year warranty. Well except those for export only. We get the cheapest, lowest quality products on the planet because that's what Wally World and others choose to pawn off on us.

Don't be confused China makes some the highest quality products on the planet. Your just not likely to see em. American products rarely meet UE regs these days friend! That said the Chinese products our fellow countrymen choose to pawn off on us rarely do either.

The end of the mom and pop operations era in America saw the quality hit the road as well! That's not to say that we just make junk, but for the most part if a US made product is to be competitive its most likely of poor quality.

In the USA today its more expensive to buy a single tomato than it is to feed two people from the Mc. Donald's dollar menu. Hence it is impossible to compete etc..

a reply to: Donkey_Dean

Is this the KILL SHOT by remote viewer ED DAMES? Combined with the Solar Flares everyone has been talking about lately, it seems to be lining up?

a reply to: Donkey_Dean

Sorry, I have to ask even though this is wayyyyy OT, how expensive are your tomatoes? We can buy a whole punnet in the UK for less than a quid!

a reply to: works4dhs

“refurbished with modern components,” have “an extensive test history.”
Reads like an eBay listing. I'll check Alibaba…!
I'm sure there is an undisclosed reason the Russians dumped them.Kudos to the flight director for knowing when to bail.
Penny-wise and dollar foolish hopefully isn't the future of space exploration.

originally posted by: tony9802
a reply to: Donkey_Dean

Is this the KILL SHOT by remote viewer ED DAMES? Combined with the Solar Flares everyone has been talking about lately, it seems to be lining up?

no.

Struggling for a 2nd line here....

originally posted by: LoneRanger91607
a reply to: works4dhs

“refurbished with modern components,” have “an extensive test history.”
Reads like an eBay listing. I'll check Alibaba…!

Pretty much like every airliner in the world then.....only they haven't actually been used!!

How much wear and tear do you think rocket engines suffer sitting around waiting to be used??

Aerojet have been modifying and testing these engine to US standards since 2010.

I'm sure there is an undisclosed reason the Russians dumped them.Kudos to the flight director for knowing when to bail.
Penny-wise and dollar foolish hopefully isn't the future of space exploration.

I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you are talking bout - surplus Russian rocketry is not news!

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: Donkey_Dean

Sorry, I have to ask even though this is wayyyyy OT, how expensive are your tomatoes? We can buy a whole punnet in the UK for less than a quid!

A tomato the size of both your fists held together is around $3.00.

Check your sources. NOT NASA. Private company using government facility but NOT NASA.

a reply to: Donkey_Dean

The size of your fists? Is that a beef tomato, as that sounds huge for a normal one?

FYI - Beef tomatoes here are 80p each, so around $1.28..

originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul

originally posted by: LoneRanger91607
a reply to: works4dhs

“refurbished with modern components,” have “an extensive test history.”
Reads like an eBay listing. I'll check Alibaba…!

Pretty much like every airliner in the world then.....only they haven't actually been used!!

How much wear and tear do you think rocket engines suffer sitting around waiting to be used??

Aerojet have been modifying and testing these engine to US standards since 2010.

I'm sure there is an undisclosed reason the Russians dumped them.Kudos to the flight director for knowing when to bail.
Penny-wise and dollar foolish hopefully isn't the future of space exploration.

I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you are talking bout - surplus Russian rocketry is not news!

Sorry, I'm not such an expert as you professor…it just seemed obvious.
www.cnn.com...