Most Kerbal accidents in real life

[Kryten]

Over one kilometer. It's still the biggest rocket launched by Great Britain, I believe.

...not exactly.

[dharak1]

Such a cute little rocket. Enough payload for an empty spacesuit too!

[Javster]

The N1 was the largest non-nuclear explosion made by humans, I think.

[magnemoe]

that one with the Redstone firing it's escape tower reminds me of many KSP launches where I forgot to check the staging before liftoff.

Yes, its an very kerbal one, obious staging bug. The parashute made it even more typical.

[Stargate525]

...not exactly.

It's adorable... I needed to be more specific: The Reliant Robin was the largest non-commercial rocket launch undertaken in Europe.

[Holo]

It's adorable... I needed to be more specific: The Reliant Robin was the largest non-commercial rocket launch undertaken in Europe.

Has Europe really never tested any ICBMs?

[Kryten]

It's adorable... I needed to be more specific: The Reliant Robin was the largest non-commercial rocket launch undertaken in Europe.

You sure?

tenchars

[Nibb31]

And French M51 SLBMs have been launched off the coast south of Bordeaux at the Centre d'Essai des Landes.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Nibb31

[magnemoe]

And French M51 SLBMs have been launched off the coast south of Bordeaux at the Centre d'Essai des Landes.

Yes, people also forget the V2 who saw lots of launches.

You can not launch satellites from Europe at least outside polar orbit as they will overfly and drop stages in other countries.

[rdfox]

Side note: The problem with the Reliant Robin rocket (a single miswired explosive bolt) was detected during checkout the night before the launch. However, the BBC was up against a strict deadline to get the film in the can to make the show's air date, and correcting the problem would have required about two days of work de-stacking the rocket, rewiring the bolt, and then re-stacking the rocket. Since they estimated that there was a 50-50 chance of it working correctly, and one of Top Gear's mottos is that they're "ambitious, but rubbish," the BBC decided to press on and launch anyway, knowing that it'd be good television whether it worked right or not. (If it had been a MANNED launch, I'm pretty sure they'd have scrubbed and repaired, but with an unmanned launch and no real payload, they weren't too worried.) James and Richard distinctly knew that there was a good chance it would fail in exactly the manner it did, so part of their reaction is acting (even if they'll admit they're not very good actors). (May's final line refers to much, MUCH earlier in the show, when someone had asked why spaceflight is so bloody expensive and it takes so many people so much time to get a vehicle designed, built, and flying. "THAT'S why.")

Trivia: That segment inspired a game on the Top Gear web site where you attempt to launch the Robin yourself, and see if you can either recover it intact, or exceed the altitude that the real one reached. A few years back, Harv stumbled on that game, and, while playing around with it, thought he could come up with a better one, and then he remembered his playing around with tinfoil men and fireworks rockets in his childhood... I think you see where I'm going with this.

[sgt_flyer]

One 'kerbal' moment was the sea launch nss-8 failure - when we see the rocket falling through the platform on ignition (not the good way to go to space ) - apparently because an object entered the oxydizer's turbopump (from the investigation) - someone must have forgotten something in the oxydizer's tank

There was also the 36th mission of ariane iv (a rag forgotten in a coolant duct...)

This kind of 'stupid' accidents because we forgot something ^^ - like when we forgot parachutes on our manned missions in ksp

Edited January 22, 2014 by sgt_flyer

[Bioman222]

Watch at 4:10

[goldenpeach]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m79UO4HOQmc

(skip to 0:30)

The biggest man-made non-nuclear explosion, made by a rocket with 30(!) engine on the first stage.