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"The ORS-4 mission on an experimental Super Strypi launch vehicle failed in mid-flight after liftoff at 5:45 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (7:45 p.m. PST/10:45 p.m. EST) today from the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii," the Air Force said in a brief statement early Nov. 4. "Additional information will be released as it becomes available."
After multiple delays, the fin-guided Super Strypi rocket finally lifted off from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai in the first-ever orbital launch attempt from Hawaii. The range is used for testing of U.S. missile defense systems, among other things.
The debut of the rail-launched Super Strypi rocket was the key feature of the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS)-4 mission, which carried 13 experimental satellites.
http://spacenews.com/rail-launched-super-strypi-rocket-packed-with-cubesats-fails-after-liftoff/
(Score: 1) by FunkyLich on Thursday November 05 2015, @06:54PM
Why go through the bother and hassle? Can't they just get fresh RD-180 engines from the Russians and get done with this? Hawaii is a place to go for holidays, not launch space vehicles designed in Kerbal Space Program using smartphones.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Saturday November 07 2015, @12:32AM
If they could accelerate the rocket a few hundred meters a second before igniting the rocket, it should save a significant amount of fuel. My KSP rockets always use a lot during the first 200 m/s
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