SpaceX – the Anatomy of an Explosion

Yesterday an unmanned Falcon-9 SpaceX rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. All seemed to go well. At first…

Here’s a super-slow-motion video of the terrifying explosion that engulfed and destroyed the rocket:

I’m no rocket scientist – and no doubt a full expert analysis of this event will be published before too long – but it does seem clear that the problem originated in the Stage 2 rocket. I fancy I can see something happen near the top of the rocket just before the main explosion started.

It’s not easy putting things into space, but we shouldn’t stop doing things just because they’re hard.

 

3 Responses to “SpaceX – the Anatomy of an Explosion”

  1. Chris Chaloner's avatar
    Chris Chaloner Says:

    To repeat the trueism – rocket science is easy; it’s rocket engineering that is difficult.
    Chris

    • telescoper's avatar
      telescoper Says:

      I’ve heard it said that the most important characteristic that Hubble possessed was not patience but an extremely strong bladder which allowed him to stay all night at the telescoper in the cold, without having to go for a wee.

  2. Anton Garrett's avatar
    Anton Garrett Says:

    Sorry astronomers but I love these rocket fail videos when nobody gets killed.

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