Vanguard Explodes; New Dutch Ramjet Helicopter 1957/12/9

[TheTechnoDork]

i love old videos like this

[vidalzinho]

Os americanos sempre foram incompetentes. Tiveram que chamar cientistas alemães para fabricar o Explorer.Que vergonha!!!!

[ianchard]

Got to love the comedy music as the thing sinks into the ground :-)

[BigFatFairy1970]

The rocket footage would be funny if used in a Viagra ad.

[KingJoker1324]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[TaylorMk2002]

OH WHAT A FLOPNIK

[artwleb]

This was a thust decay but what the cause was eludes me.

You can see burning propellant suddenly appear but was it

a arge leak that caused a low flow of one of the propellants?

The other option is a propellant valve closed suddenly....

[emiledebeque]

As I heard it from an old-timer in the Shuttle program, a thin film of volatile solvent subjected to the vibration of engine start reacted with the liquid oxygen oxidizer in the tank. The result was an explosive increase in pressure.

Not sure if this was the particular launch where that was the cause. In this video, the vehicle appears to be losing thrust well before any evidence of tank failure appears.

[davemail]

If you examine the front page of the New York Times on December 6, 1957, you'll see (in the bottom left hand corner) a tiny mention of the launch of this "space rocket," as the Times called it. Although it was by far the smallest article on the page, the launch, and subsequent spectacular failure of the vehicle would be the most memorable event that occurred on December 6, 1957. Um, next to my birthday, of course!

-- David Schultz.