Making abort rockets

[lazarus1024]

So, when people have experimented with abort rockets/stages, has anyone made absolutely ridiculous rockets doomed to certain and quick failure just to test out your aborts?

I think for me that has been almost more fun then making a regular rocket is designing something that'll disintegrate spectacularly and seeing if the abort stage can pull Jeb's lilly green butt out of the expanding fireball withour harm.

My favorite two instances are blowing up on the pad in a huge fireball (many orange tanks and SRBs exploding at once...that is what happens with 6 large SRBs are pointed inward at the rocket and all the engines turn on at once), hitting abort and getting Jeb clear...only to float back down on the parachute too close to the VAB and have the VAB catch the parachute and collapse it, causing the capsule and Jeb to plumet to their demise.

The second was when things went badly wrong and I hit abort, the capsule went tearing off...with the failing launcher below it...still under thrust coming straight up!!! After the seperatrons burned out the launcher caught up and shot past Jeb in his capsule with about 2 coats of paint to spare in distance away probably going 300+m/sec faster than Jeb.

The capsule and Jeb were saved, but his space suit and undies were a complete write-off.

[paleorob]

That's why, during an abort, it is a good idea to A)set up the abort to also kill the other engines in the rocket and B)steer slightly towards the ocean.