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Worth noting: launch escape tower was jettisoned nominally moments before the failure. Escape was via the capsule separation mechanism followed by ballistic the
by rory096 8y ago
Worth noting: launch escape tower was jettisoned nominally moments before the failure. Escape was via the capsule separation mechanism followed by ballistic then parachute descent. If the booster had exploded, the crew would have been in extreme danger.
- village-idiot 8y agoWas jettisoning the escape tower at that moment planned, or was that a failure?
- rory096 8y agoPlanned (nominal). See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIxkVAXPYPc&t=134 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIxkVAXPYPc&t=134
- theoh 8y agoIt's so bizarre that in NASA-speak the word nominal means not the value that a parameter should have ("in name") but the fact that the parameter is within a specified tolerance of that value. It's like a contraction of "<value> is what it should be, according to its formal definition". https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/184876/how-did-nominal-come-to-mean-within-acceptable-tolerances https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/184876/how-did-n...
- MPSimmons 8y agoSNAFU, so to speak.
- dogma1138 8y agoNormal the tower is used for launch pad abort and for a very short window afterwards. The Soyuz launch abort system is actually quite robust probably the best launch abort system that has been implemented for manned flight so far with the Orion and Crew Dragon only marginally improving on it and even that is still not clear given those haven’t been flown yet alone actually used in practice yet.
- coob 8y agoIt hasn't flown any missions, but Crew Dragon has had its launch pad abort tested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcHD9AmkxA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcHD9AmkxA0
- rory096 8y agoOrion has also done a pad abort test, for what it's worth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j68mszdhTmY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j68mszdhTmY
- cptskippy 8y agoWhy does Lockheed's official video look like it was filmed by my uncle on his VHS camcorder?
- dmix 8y agoLooks like someone is recording a video feed broadcast via a projector onto a dark wall with a cellphone or camera. Probably a cellphone from 8yrs ago.
- moreira 8y agoOff-topic, but, a cellphone from 8 years ago is the iPhone 4. Isn't that crazy to think about?
- cptskippy 8y agoWe're way off topic at this point. I think the iPhone 4's video quality would be better.
- dmix 8y agoRegardless it's a video recording of a video being projected onto a wall. The cellphone quality is the least important part of my comment and has improved dramatically in quality on the average smart over 8yrs (iPhone tends to be leading edge and that phone was brand new at the time which not everyone has).
- _Tev 8y agoBoosters don't really "explode". When ruptured they burn really fast, but (assuming engine shutdown and non-malfunctioning capsule separation) at such high altitude there is not that much danger from simple conflagration. Sure, in _very_ rare case engines might not shut down or something else might get broken, but "If the booster had exploded, the crew would have been in extreme danger." seems too over the top. Launch escape tower is jettisoned for a reason ...