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Most amusing launch failures


Sampa

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A radial decoupler was on the first stage and when I launched I found that only 2 of my 3 engines was still attached to the rocket. Consequently the rocket arced over towards the VAB, then flew over the VAB then kept turning and smashed into the VAB on the side that faces away from the launchpad. The VAB went away. Very funny and sad.

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Once in 0.23 or so (after the NASA pack but before joints were as strong as they are now) I put a design on the pad that I'd used a million times - big Mammoth-powered core with four asparagussed LRBs. This time, I forgot struts. The whole thing just collapsed on the pad before I could hit "stage". Big bada boom. Revert to VAB. Add struts. Never forgot them again. :)

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Not so much a launch failure as a Launchpad failure...

Designing a "new" Tylo lander (0.90), I required a test of the lander legs to ensure they would support the weight of the craft. So, I stuck it on a couple stabilizers a couple meters up. The legs, in fact, survived the drop.

zkMq8SGl.jpg

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I had built an Ariane style rocket for satellite launches. Ignition goes, then I stage the launch clamps, and the thing moves incredibly slowly (thought I had it set for 1.5 TWR on launch) and then it starts to nose over. It hits the central clamp on the east side and slowly crawls upward scraping the clamp the entire time. When it reaches the top of the clamp it noses over. It at this point is getting enough thrust that it is starting to stabilize and when it clears the clamp it remains airborne ... until it crashes into the water tower and explodes. I just stared at the pile or rubble for about five minutes following before giving a grunt of acceptance and fiddling with the throttle settings in the VAB.

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Mainsail lower stage, with Whiplash boosters strapped to it. Ignited the boosters, got them up to speed, light up the mainsail and release the clamps. The rocket climbs maybe 10m then the whiplashes run out of fuel and jettison with auto staging (MJ launch) the whole thing so very slowly (0.99 twr) comes back to the pad. it lands upright on the mainsail and stays. 10 seconds later the mainsail stage has run out of fuel and the decoupler fires, took out everything on the pad.

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I have posted this picture before in another thread, but I think it fits well.

Was testing some contraption and it ended up exploding every time with the kerbal being launched straight into the air.

Was able to capture this shot:

catastrophiexplosion.png

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Last time I had a proper launch failure at launch, it all ignited properly. Started climbing. Then one of the boosters popped off for some unknown reason and rocketed away into the sunset. The rest of the rocket, now unstable, pitched around to try and sort itself out, before the remaining boosters started to explode.

This lead to me pounding through stages, boosters firing off into the air, the main stage abandoned to push it's fuel tank upwards, while the second stage pushed the lander up and away. Then I popped chutes on the lander, forgetting that I was still accelerating upwards. Jeb freaked out as the drogues opened, the whole thing flipped upside down, and it started to descend through the flames and explosions of the rest of the rocket.

My most recent 'launch' failure was on this save's first Mun landing. The LANDING was pretty much okay, apart from the slope I landed ON. Jeb got out, set out the flag, did the science, and got back in. Then I had to try and roll the craft around so the engine was downhill, and try to take off a little without destroying anything, and use the legs and SAS to flip back upright. It took three tries to get it to not explode.

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My failure was like this: rocket weighing ¿80? tons, + SRB to lift the rocket before starting the rocket engines (start a little higher), TWR = 0.90, never moved, then i added a Karbonite SRB to aid the normal SRBs and placed the rocket on a high launch clamp, then stage 1 was activated but the Karbonite SRB failed, reason, no fuel, =rocket fall and launch pad destroyed,anyway, after fueling the SRB, the rocket fell back, so I leaved the design ...

and I learned that I will have to make things lighter ...

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Skip to 3:55 for actual launch...

Look Ma! No chutes, no thrusters! just explody crumple zones, a torque wheel, and a lander can!

Back when I recorded this, I had switched from playing the sandbox mode of Kerbal Space Program, to Career mode. I also came to the bright conclusion that it was about time to build a Mun lander. One that can do SCIENCE!

Behold my lander, "Mun Luna". I totally meant to forget to stow the landing gear. :rolleyes: I did an earlier (not recorded) launch pad landing test by going up to 500 meters and attempting to land... MechJeb decided on the ascent stage that it wanted to actually ORBIT the planet once before landing on the VAB pad... The craft angled away from the target and shot off at full throttle. Yeah... Not happening on 39 seconds of fuel... /)_-

So, I tacked "Mun Luna" onto a thrust stage featuring both an abundance of fuel + a science lab craft that I intend to rendezvous with to collect science from the Mun. Not part of this test, is plans for either boosters or asparagus staging, whichever gets me into space. So anyway... Like I said, I've been experimenting with MechJeb, and had some bad numbers left over from those lander tests... lander numbers left in place when I did a full scale launcher test... This video covers the ensuing hijinks of that launch "attempt".

Said Jebadiah, after successfully landing a Lander Can at 94 m/sec, "I AM INVINCIBLE!" :cool:

No vats of liquid nitrogen were near by, and the VAB tanks were no where near him, so he felt safe proclaiming this fact. Jeb did step a few steps away from the monopropellant tanks though... :confused:

I also apologize for the audio quality... This was honestly, genuinely just a test, but the resulting video was ridiculous, so you get what you get. I literally had the TV on in the background, and inadvertently allowed audio passthrough, hence the echoes.

Edited by richfiles
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  • 1 month later...

I posted this on the apollo challenge thread.

Basically my new expiremental Saturn V was launching, and, well, I forgot struts. The entire second stage and up was wobbling around on a 0.625m decoupled while a huge 3.75m first stage was pusing it upwards at over 2.5gs

- - - Updated - - -

It immediately smashed into the ground, causing the biggest explosion I've ever seen in KSP. And somehow the LES survived...

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