The first flight of an experimental U.S. military rocket designed for low-cost, quick-reaction satellite launches ended in failure over Hawaii on Tuesday, the Air Force said, destroying 13 small research spacecraft clustered on the mission for NASA researchers and university students.
Videos of Tuesday’s sunset liftoff of the U.S. military’s Super Strypi launcher show the low-cost fin-guided rocket streaking into the skies over Hawaii and arcing downrange toward the south with 13 satellites before apparently losing control and breaking up.
U.S. military authorities have granted approval for liftoff Tuesday of a simplified satellite launcher from Hawaii on a test flight officials say will help drive down the costs of sending small spacecraft into orbit.
The U.S. Air Force has released the first-ever photos of the Super Strypi launch vehicle, a souped-up version of a Cold War-era sounding rocket about to be shot into orbit on a unique demonstration flight with 13 small satellites.
The U.S. Air Force fired a new rail-launched rocket into space from Hawaii at 10:45 p.m. EST Tuesday (0345 GMT Wednesday), but the Super Strypi vehicle failed about a minute after liftoff with 13 satellites on-board.
The maiden test flight of a new rail-guided launcher from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, which was scheduled for Thursday, has been delayed while engineers resolve issues encountered in pre-launch preparations, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said.
The first flight of a new rail-guided satellite launch system from a military missile range in Hawaii has been delayed until late October due to problems with the rocket’s first stage motor, according to a U.S. Air Force official.
