Questions tagged [failure]
Questions regarding missions or parts of missions which were not successful.
235 questions
8votes
1answer
2kviews
Do we have any known examples of the "harmonic response" phenomenon causing structural failures in spacecraft?
Engineers determined the most likely cause of the propellant leak was a harmonic response several times stronger than predicted, suggesting the vibrations during the ship’s climb into space were in ...
6votes
1answer
2kviews
Why did Starship IFT-8 explode again?
I've seen pictures of it and videos, but I haven't seen anybody explain what happened. Img credit All I know is that the first stage returned and was captured properly, but the 2nd stage didn't ...
7votes
2answers
202views
Are rocket companies financially responsible for flight delays and deviations due to falling debris and other possible side effects of failed launches
Are rocket companies financially responsible for flight delays and deviations due to falling debris and other possible side effects of failed launches?
- 1,352
21votes
3answers
6kviews
Has a space mission ever failed due to an incorrect understanding of physics?
I just watched the excellent 3Blue1Brown video series with Terence Tao explaining how we learned about sizes and distances of objects in our solar system and beyond. The fact that we’re able to send ...
8votes
3answers
1kviews
Did the loss of Starship Test Flight 7 force plane flights to be diverted?
A BlueSky post from Jon Ostrower implied that the explosion of Starship test flight 7 forced airline flights to hold or divert. I would have assumed that any likely corridor for debris would have been ...
- 174k
9votes
1answer
461views
What’s the exact difference between an error, fault & failure?
When a rocket explodes or something goes wrong, the anomaly is called something. I think a well known example is with SpaceX Starship rockets flights, where they set certain goals for their launch and ...
- 6,933
2votes
1answer
372views
Did the first stage of Vulcan-Centaur explode after separation?
Yesterday Vulcan Centaur launched for the second time to get certified for national security missions. The launch had a widely discussed anomaly with one of the solid rocket boosters. However there ...
- 6,933
-5votes
1answer
159views
Has a crewed craft ever exploded during re-entry? [closed]
Crewed crafts re-enter the earth's atmosphere at high speeds and hot temperatures. This of course can prove to be highly dangerous to the crew inside. My question is, has this re-entry ever caused ...
- 2,493
1vote
1answer
218views
What would happen today if a spacecraft failed in orbit with astronauts inside?
Some spaceship - like a Dragon, a Soyuz or a Starliner - leaves the ISS and is doing the orbital maneuvers needed to land where it wants to. And, at this point... they have a problem. The spacecraft ...
- 3,352
4votes
1answer
993views
Are there any rockets that leave extra fuel as a backup?
Are there any rockets that leave extra fuel as a backup? For this purpose I mean fuel that is not intended to be used at any point during the mission. I’d imagine this could be useful in case of a non ...
1vote
1answer
4kviews
What caused 2 astronauts to be stranded in space
Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams were originally on an 8 day test flight mission, which launched on June 5, 2024. More than 2 months later, many people are now saying will turn into 8 ...
4votes
1answer
528views
Why did the Luna 25 lander fail to land on the moon?
On August 19, 2023, the Russian Luna 25 lander crashed into the moon whilst attempting to land at the lunar south pole. What went wrong and why did this happen?
3votes
1answer
107views
Why did the Hyperbola-1 have an attitude control system leak May 2022?
On May 13, 2022, the Hyperbola-1 rocket failed for the third time in a row. I could not find any launch video showing anything clearly failing. According to Seradata, the cause was an attitude control ...
6votes
1answer
809views
Why did the Hyperbola-1 launch fail in August 2021?
On August 3, 2021, the Hyperbola-1 rocket failed for the second time. There is no launch video. What went wrong? Why did it fail?
2votes
1answer
179views
Why did the maiden flight of Kairos fail?
On March 13, 2024 the maiden of Space One's launch vehicle Kairos was automatically destroyed by it's Flight Termination System 5 seconds after launch. At the time, the company stated that they were ...
