China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket fails at launch
China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket yesterday failed during launch, though no details have been released.
Kuaizhou 1A and Kuauzhou 11 are rapid response rockets derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles that are capable of placing satellites into orbit on short notice. Launches are managed by ExPace, a commercial subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.
The Kuaizhou-1A is the smaller of the two rockets. This was its first failure after ten successful launches.
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China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket yesterday failed during launch, though no details have been released.
Kuaizhou 1A and Kuauzhou 11 are rapid response rockets derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles that are capable of placing satellites into orbit on short notice. Launches are managed by ExPace, a commercial subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.
The Kuaizhou-1A is the smaller of the two rockets. This was its first failure after ten successful launches.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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That rocket can also probably place a killsat in orbit on short notice, too.
Friday was a bad day for orbital launches. The article points out that this was the eighth launch failure worldwide, this year. What a bad year the launch industry is having. So far this year there have been around sixty successful launches (I’m not really counting), so we are seeing a failure rate of about 12%. Some of these failures were in test phases, so it really isn’t as bad as I have suggested, but at ten-ish percent it is well below good.
Scott Manley has some comments on this launch after saying quite a bit on the Astra 3.1 flight, including some nice photographs taken before the shutdown. He also has a second source video of Astra 3.1 taken closer and showing more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2izFjTEBKQ (10 minutes)
Yeah, 4 Chinese launch failures this year. And it is especially noteworthy that an ICBM derived solid fuel rocket fails! In war, such a thing can change history.
US Military tests LGM-30G Minuteman III w/ 3 un-armed re-entry vehicle’s
August 2020
https://youtu.be/gAg6pAmtLyI
10:52
“It is to be noted that the missile is tested 4-5 times a year and but the last time Minuteman III was tested with 3 reentry vehicle was on Apr. 25, 2018.”
“Air Force and Navy personnel onboard an E-6B Mercury airborne command post aircraft initiated the missile launch.E-6B is an important component of this deterrent capability since it provides a backup option for launching the missiles remotely if other command and control nodes get taken out by a preemptive strike.”