Retro Space HD | Delta II Launch Failure - Multiple Views - GPS IIR-1, 1997, Rocket Explosion, USAF, Canaveral LC-17 @RetroSpaceHD | Uploaded July 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
Failure of the DeltaII rocket on January 17, 1997, carrying the GPS IIR-1satellite for the USAF. The launch is repeated in slow motion and with extra views so that the failure is best seen.
This video combines multiple camera angles of the flight. Includes footage from AFSMMF youtube.com/watch?v=610QQsLtIDM , youtube.com/watch?v=7sJ-qRvVlGE and youtube.com/watch?v=oJRkBKq5PD8.
Research, video cleanup, remastering, and editing by Retro Space HD.
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GPS IIR-1 or GPS SVN-42 was the first Block IIR GPS satellite to be launched. It was to have been operated as part of the United States Air Force Global Positioning System.
GPS IIR-1 was launched on a Delta II 7925-9.5 launch vehicle, serial number D241, from Launch Complex 17A (LC-17A) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The launch occurred at 16:28:01 UTC, on 17 January 1997.
Thirteen seconds later, the rocket's flight termination system was activated by its onboard computer. This detonated explosive charges aboard the rocket, causing it to explode. At the time of the explosion, the rocket was 490 m (1,610 ft) above the launch complex.
An investigation determined that the failure was caused by a crack in the casing of the number 2 GEM-40 solid rocket motor, which started to form at T+6 seconds and grew from there.
At T+12 seconds, the Solid rocket booster (SRB) casing ruptured and debris struck the number 8 SRB next to it, causing that motor to fail as well.
One second later, the range safety destruct charges automatically activated, causing the rocket to auto-terminate, which led to the self-destruction of the first stage and the detonation of the remaining SRBs. The upper stages were blasted free.
At T+21 seconds, the Range Safety Officer sent a manual destruct command to terminate the upper stages for safety purposes, resulting in their destruction. The GPS satellite and payload shroud survived intact until impacting the ground. It could not be determined with certainty what had tripped the destruct system on the first stage; possible explanations including a lanyard being pulled, a shock wave from the rupture of the number 2 SRB, or heat generated by the event.
It was the lowest-altitude launch failure at Cape Canaveral since Atlas-Centaur AC-5 in 1965 and only the third total loss of a Delta in the previous two decades.
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A special thanks to the channel supporters ( patreon.com/RetroSpaceHD ):
Asbjørn
Bathypterois
Drew Granston
Elpacholag
Francis Bernier
Gary Smith
Gio Pagliari
Glenn W. Hussey
Jackson Johnson
Jan Strzelecki
Jeff Pleimling
Jules E
Kevin Spencer
Martin J Lollar
Michael Pennington
Nathan Koga
Noah Soderquist
Rick Durr
Ryan Hardy
Scott Manley
========================================
#gps #deltaii #rocket
Failure of the DeltaII rocket on January 17, 1997, carrying the GPS IIR-1satellite for the USAF. The launch is repeated in slow motion and with extra views so that the failure is best seen.
This video combines multiple camera angles of the flight. Includes footage from AFSMMF youtube.com/watch?v=610QQsLtIDM , youtube.com/watch?v=7sJ-qRvVlGE and youtube.com/watch?v=oJRkBKq5PD8.
Research, video cleanup, remastering, and editing by Retro Space HD.
=============================================
GPS IIR-1 or GPS SVN-42 was the first Block IIR GPS satellite to be launched. It was to have been operated as part of the United States Air Force Global Positioning System.
GPS IIR-1 was launched on a Delta II 7925-9.5 launch vehicle, serial number D241, from Launch Complex 17A (LC-17A) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The launch occurred at 16:28:01 UTC, on 17 January 1997.
Thirteen seconds later, the rocket's flight termination system was activated by its onboard computer. This detonated explosive charges aboard the rocket, causing it to explode. At the time of the explosion, the rocket was 490 m (1,610 ft) above the launch complex.
An investigation determined that the failure was caused by a crack in the casing of the number 2 GEM-40 solid rocket motor, which started to form at T+6 seconds and grew from there.
At T+12 seconds, the Solid rocket booster (SRB) casing ruptured and debris struck the number 8 SRB next to it, causing that motor to fail as well.
One second later, the range safety destruct charges automatically activated, causing the rocket to auto-terminate, which led to the self-destruction of the first stage and the detonation of the remaining SRBs. The upper stages were blasted free.
At T+21 seconds, the Range Safety Officer sent a manual destruct command to terminate the upper stages for safety purposes, resulting in their destruction. The GPS satellite and payload shroud survived intact until impacting the ground. It could not be determined with certainty what had tripped the destruct system on the first stage; possible explanations including a lanyard being pulled, a shock wave from the rupture of the number 2 SRB, or heat generated by the event.
It was the lowest-altitude launch failure at Cape Canaveral since Atlas-Centaur AC-5 in 1965 and only the third total loss of a Delta in the previous two decades.
============================================
A special thanks to the channel supporters ( patreon.com/RetroSpaceHD ):
Asbjørn
Bathypterois
Drew Granston
Elpacholag
Francis Bernier
Gary Smith
Gio Pagliari
Glenn W. Hussey
Jackson Johnson
Jan Strzelecki
Jeff Pleimling
Jules E
Kevin Spencer
Martin J Lollar
Michael Pennington
Nathan Koga
Noah Soderquist
Rick Durr
Ryan Hardy
Scott Manley
========================================
#gps #deltaii #rocket
