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> But there were many close calls (including main engine failure). When did the shuttle main engine fail?
by justin66 9y ago
> But there were many close calls (including main engine failure).
When did the shuttle main engine fail?
- Robotbeat 9y agoOne of the three SSMEs failed on STS-51F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-F due to sensor malfunction. Another engine nearly failed for the same reason, but quick action from the crew prevented shutdown. The Shuttle performed an Abort-to-orbit, meaning it continued to a lower contingency orbit. And STS-93 had a pretty bad close call, too, with some of the engine coolant lines rupturing in-flight (leading to early shutdown) due to a oxidizer post plug coming undone as well as an electrical short taking down some of the engine controllers. That was pretty early in flight, so would've been incredibly risky in the case of an abort. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-93 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-93 Falcon 9 has higher levels of first stage redundancy than Shuttle (can lose a first stage engine immediately at lift-off and reach orbit just fine, and lose multiple engines later in flight), and uses just a single upper stage engine, reducing probability of failure.