Antares rocket explodes on liftoff

shteii01

Joined Feb 19, 2010
4,644
The way I heard it is this:
Soviets designed and built rockets to go to the moon. They tested them and the rockets did not perform. So Soviets kept working on it. Then US landed on the moon and the point became moot. Soviets stopped working on the rockets and put them away. Here is the important thing! They never figured out what is wrong with the rockets.

Fast forward 50 years later. Some organization needed rockets, but did not have money to buy new. So they bought used. They rebuilt/refurbished them and launched it. Problem. The original design did not work and never got fixed in the first place. So rebuilding/refurbishing the rocket did not really matter. Predictably when it was launched, it failed.

End file.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
Yes, i remember that incident. Classic russian approach, if it doesnt fit, dont look for directions, cram it in. I think its genetic, i have to fight the call constantly
The improper installation apparently required some considerable physical effort, which, somehow did not raise any alarm at GKNPTs Khrunichev's assembly plant in Moscow. Investigators immediately looked at already assembled Protons, including those in Baikonur, but did not find such an anomaly.
Translation: He used a big hammer to make it fit. They fixed it and the people responsible were sent to a nice vacation in Siberia.
The end product of Russian engineering is usually bullet-proof but due to their traditional test method of incremental refinement until it stops exploding you don't every want a prototype of anything like a rocket engine design abandoned in the 1970s.
 
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