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"Premature completion"
Hello All,
Back in the Apollo days (at around the time of the considerably-less-than-perfect Apollo 6 mission), the program's personnel stopped referring to "failures," and spoke of "unfulfilled objectives" instead. I just came across another, newer term that was used to describe a recent sounding rocket mission that ended in a catastrophic failure just seconds after launch--"premature completion" of a mission. Now: This video (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL9HEYuOWDU - the final count begins at about 33:10) covers the failed but spectacular night launch--from Wallops Island--of a Terrier-Improved Malemute carrying the SubTec-6 payload on July 2, 2014 (see: http://www.google.com/search?source...1.0.9CNsjI34fwE ). The payload included a new low-cost vapor cloud release system and a new type of CubeSat deployment mechanism, which were to be tested, and: At about 41:35 in the video, the announcer at Wallops referred to the "premature completion" of the mission (I was so astonished that I played it back to make sure I had heard it correctly), which the tracking video (and the radar data, as well as the telemetry downlink channel losses) clearly showed to be a total wipe-out. The Improved Malemute upper stage was tumbling and burning furiously at both ends, and it wasn't due to a thrust termination system having been activated, because the vehicle--like most sounding rockets--didn't have one.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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