Astra launch failure caused by one of five 1st stage engines shutting down at liftoff
Capitalism in space: According to an Astra press release, its launch failure on August 28th was caused when one of the rocket’s five 1st stage engines shut down one second after liftoff.
One of the five main engines shut down less than one second after liftoff, causing the vehicle to slowly lift off the pad before resuming its trajectory. After approximately two minutes and thirty seconds of flight, the range issued an all engine-shutdown command, ending the flight.
The lack of one engine explains the rocket’s strange take-off, where it initially tilted slightly, shifted sideways, and then straightened up and began rising upward. From that point onward the ground controllers knew the mission would not reach orbit, and were only waiting until it reached a safe altitude to cut off the engines and have the rocket fall into the ocean safely.
While the launch failed, Astra’s engineers should be very satisfied by how the software on the rocket functioned. Rather than shut everything down and crashing into the launchpad fully fueled where it could do a lot of damage, the rocket immediately compensated for the loss of one engine and resumed a stable flight, allowing it to get clear.
This success does not negate the failure however. Astra needs to find out why one engine shut down.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: According to an Astra press release, its launch failure on August 28th was caused when one of the rocket’s five 1st stage engines shut down one second after liftoff.
One of the five main engines shut down less than one second after liftoff, causing the vehicle to slowly lift off the pad before resuming its trajectory. After approximately two minutes and thirty seconds of flight, the range issued an all engine-shutdown command, ending the flight.
The lack of one engine explains the rocket’s strange take-off, where it initially tilted slightly, shifted sideways, and then straightened up and began rising upward. From that point onward the ground controllers knew the mission would not reach orbit, and were only waiting until it reached a safe altitude to cut off the engines and have the rocket fall into the ocean safely.
While the launch failed, Astra’s engineers should be very satisfied by how the software on the rocket functioned. Rather than shut everything down and crashing into the launchpad fully fueled where it could do a lot of damage, the rocket immediately compensated for the loss of one engine and resumed a stable flight, allowing it to get clear.
This success does not negate the failure however. Astra needs to find out why one engine shut down.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
While the launch failed, Astra’s engineers should be very satisfied by how the software on the rocket functioned.
And their flight controllers should be very satisfied in how they handled the malfunction, with an apparent absence of panic and a focus on assuring a safe flight termination in the face of the unexpected.
Steely-eyed missile men …
whoever left the gate open ought to get a pat on the back
I seem to be playing the dog-in-the-manger with respect to Astra’s recent problems. But I can’t get past the fact that their business model emphasizes a core team centrally located away from the launch site, and what that may say about the results of the last two launch attempts.
The first attempt shut down because the launch abort system (correctly?) detected an engine startup problem. Someone decided something had to be adjusted, but apparently that something was NOT an engine, but an “operational” procedure. Was there anyone on-site who could inspect the engines? There didn’t seem to be a long enough time between launch attempts to inspect much less swap out one or more engines. Did they settle for dialing back the safety tolerances, and it bit them?
I’ll bet the USSF is glad their payload was only a chunk of concrete!
Scott Manley
The Astra Launch
August 29, 2021
https://youtu.be/x2jU5W4ehPE
11:41
If I could have somehow survived the thermal and acoustic environment-and gripped the lower edge and lifted it with the LV’s thrust-to-weight at unity….could I have done a Superman and got it going with a push?
Jeff–
Here ya’ go…
The Kinks
“(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” (1980)
https://youtu.be/Nvsbk4P3NQ0
6:28
It was the rooskies….
Y’know like how American astronauts must have drilled the hole in the russian module of ISS.