Rocket Launch Doomed After Payload Fairing Won't Open

[@jeremygoldenberg9617]

One thing I truly appreciate about this channel is that you're not afraid to embrace the technical terms like "residual hot stuff."

[@kissthesky40]

Ha. Made me blurt out and scare the doggo.

[@LabRatJason]

Weird... "residual hot stuff" is the pet name my wife uses for me!

[@GewelReal]

sounds very inappropriate

[@chrisantoniou4366]

Yes, he's not afraid to use technical phrases where appropriate...

[@cube2fox]

I saw the title in the thumbnail (Help I'm stuck inside etc) and immediately expected hot stuff.

[@Rubrickety]

I think the problem can be traced to the fact that the fairing design team was British and specified aluminium components, but the construction team was American and used aluminum instead.

[@restojon1]

Speaking as a British engineer I can confirm that this is an ongoing issue when collaborating with America in anything engineering based, combine this with our soldering and the American "Soddering" and it's just a recipe for disaster. If only there was a way we could make it work 😉😁

[@Zonkotron]

@@restojon1 To be fair, aluminum IS the correct word and aluminium was some junk word someone else made up because he figured the name given by the discoverer did not sound cool enough. Soddering is confusing, though.

[@helixspiral]

😂

[@robertbutsch1802]

I recall TV ads as a kid back in the ‘50s for a company - Canadian I believe - called “Aluminium Limited.” I was confused at that age, but I have to say that as far as rhythm/meter of speech is concerned that sounded better than “Aluminum Limited.”

[@speedingoffence]

@@Zonkotron Both are interpreted translations of 'Alumen'. Thus, if aluminium is incorrect, so is aluminum. Since language theory has been moving away from 'fixed' usages, and towards colloquial usage, and both are in common usage, it's reasonable to say all three are correct.

[@mattcolver1]

Back in the day I worked on the Delta II 10 ft. Composite Fairing development. During the 1st launch the fairing recontacted the 2nd stage. It also had a bunch of the acoustic blankets get separated and blasted out of the fairing. The mission was a success, but we got lucky. It turned out the fairing was pretty stiff and the separation mode where the fairing opens up on deployment then closes back in was too quick and the lower corners of the fairing recontacted the 2nd stage. The cheap fix was to add ballast along the separation plane to slow the separation mode down. We also used better attachment methods to attach the blankets. It was a shame to have to add a bunch of weight to a nice lightweight composite fairing. But that payload fairing worked perfect for many missions over decades.

[@rocketman7sam]

Hi Matt. Long time. I remember you from the Boeing days.

[@rocketman7sam]

You might remember me from Vandenberg.

[@mattcolver1]

@@rocketman7sam Hard to determine who you are from just the channel name rocketman7sam

[@rocketman7sam]

@@mattcolver1 Sam Kelman

[@mattcolver1]

@@rocketman7sam So we both worked for Ramsauer at one time or another. The times I went to VAFB for ULA was to store some test hardware, Inspect DCSS test hardware for use in SLS testing and evaluate the various machine shops at VAFB. Back in the Delta II days in the 90s I investigated items we could spend NASA's extra budget on to fix up SLC2.

[@EverydayRoadster]

Astra official: please stand by as we investigate the issue. Astra thinking: let’s wait what Scott Manley will find out about it.

[@captainmaim]

Mechjeb failed

[@phuzz00]

@@captainmaim But is it a mechjeb failure if the staging was set wrong? Although, when I think about it, Mechjeb just refuses to fire the engines or release a decoupler until the faring has been staged, so in this case mechjeb might have been an upgrade ;)

[@davidmyers989]

Wisdom of the crowds. Think there are a lot of good ideas here

[@-danR]

And what Manley recommends. Manley: "check yo staging" 6:02

[@trcostan]

Astra has had two of the most Kerbal failures in recent history!

[@PsychoMuffinSDM]

Either they haven't played enough Kerbal, or they played too much Kerbal...

[@fallinginthed33p]

They might be using Kerbal as their simulator.

[@icantthinkofanyothernames954]

Me when I forget to check my stages

[@Zeunknown1234]

Have you heard of the tragedy of Chandrayaan 2 Lander? It legit lithobraked on the moon like most of my rockets in KSP/SFS

[@icantthinkofanyothernames954]

Yea

[@kelvinc]

“Initially, the launch went very well, for Astra: their booster lifted straight off the pad” 👀

[@KarsonNow]

Even that is an good result - imagine, mankind needed few decades to fire up an rocket in to space, without any special devices on it. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️☝️ That's is what we call it rocket engineering. It not so easy like you think about it.

[@realdizzle87]

The rocket pitched over way too much during ascent. The booster is designed to fall straight down (because the rocket should be going straight up) at stage-sep. This rocket was traveling near perpendicular to the ground at MECO. It appears that upper-stage basically got wedged inside of the booster cowling when they attempted separation - almost certainly because of the unusual attitude. S1 is supposed to go straight up - as high out of the atmosphere as possible, then stage-sep, then the rocket pitches over and the vac-optimized engines just add the delta-v you need to give you orbital-velocity. Things went wrong with this flight seconds after ignition. The rocket was in an abnormal regime for the entire ascent phase.

[@ThePixel1983]

Référence to that power-slide? 😁

[@realdizzle87]

@@ThePixel1983 a power-slide - that's a good name for it actually. It can be fun to make a sports-car go in a direction other than the direction it's pointing. In a rocket, it's less good 😊

[@ThePixel1983]

@@realdizzle87 Yeah, but it actually happened, last year I think. One engine failed, the others corrected and the rocket just slide out the launch stand basically horizontally (because not enough thrust) and only gained vertical speed when light enough.

[@SkulShurtugalTCG]

Astra didn't mash F9 enough.

[@Connection-Lost]

What is F9 bound to? Not staging since that's spacebar and you wouldn't mash staging anyway....

[@krzysztofprzybylski2750]

Astra forgot that time warp arrests all rotation

[@averyshaham1697]

@@Connection-Lost loading your quicksave

[@antonpershin998]

@@krzysztofprzybylski2750 can't time warp with working engine

[@YR2050]

"It is rumored that the 2nd stage is still doing the Interstellar Spin".

[@leadfoot5307]

It's basically me on KSP before I knew stack seperators were a thing. It's technically stage separation when you blow the first stage off the rocket.

[@BrandonAzzarella]

Who needs stack separators? That's free delta v, baby!

[@HodgePodgeProducts]

@@BrandonAzzarella you ever see those videos where they dont even use couplers at all and then just steer their rocket towards a moon or asteroid and skim it just enough to knock off the stages they dont need anymore lmao

[@janosmucha4897]

@@HodgePodgeProducts Is that a thing? Using lithobreaking for stage separation? I need links...

[@J7Handle]

@@janosmucha4897 stratzenblitz probably did it at least once, I think for a low part count mission.

[@simonmultiverse6349]

Isn't it spelled "sepperatourz"? Or maybe "suppurating" ?

[@hashim9882]

This rocket had been sitting at the Cape Canaveral launch pad for more than 23 days. I suspect it being in the coastal humidity for so long may have contributed to the trouble. As other comments have pointed out, you can see some (what appear to be) ice droplets floating around in the fairing. I’m no rocket scientist but I’d say that’s no bueno.

[@emmata98]

but ice is quite normal on rockets due to cryogenics

[@CUBEoneVX]

@@emmata98 ice inside the mechanism to release stuff is not normal. Ice on the outer shell is normal

[@pleopsidium6960]

Would be funny if that's the case, because if I remember correctly that's exactly what caused one of the Falcon 1s to fail

[@arkadia_9014]

you don't need to be a rocket scientist, this on is just an electrical/mechanical problem.

[@HanSolo__]

​@@arkadia_9014 "Rocket science is quite simple. It's rocket engineering that makes things get complicated." ~(not only) Scott Manley

[@phillewis1749]

Love how this is actually a real life example of "check your staging" 😁

[@MeisVlk]

Check yo' staging!

[@emmata98]

I am waiting for the moar boosters...

[@phillewis1749]

@@emmata98 Big orange tanks too?

[@phillewis1749]

@@kukuc96 That's Kerbal 😁 -> add Moar boosters

[@cola98765]

We already had "add more struts."

[@ReneSchickbauer]

I imagine igniting a vacuum engine in a high pressure environment is probably outside the specs for the engine nozzle. I'm amazed that the second stage didn't blow up completely.

[@ArgumentativeAtheist]

@@kukuc96 Due to the sheer amount of exhaust a rocket engine spews out it would have likely increased in pressure much more quickly than any gasses escaped from the partially opened fairing. So pressure would build up very quickly. As Scott highlighted that's probably why the fairing eventually blew open.

[@gierdziui9003]

the gimbal range on rocket 3 is so small that this rotation just was too much xd and their control system probably is not smooth enough nor quick to counteract some real S P I N

[@captainmaim]

@@gierdziui9003 clearly needed moar reaction wheels...

[@ZicajosProductions]

@Rene Schickbauer The high pressure would certainly blow off the fairings before it destroyed the combustion chamber. There wasn’t enough time inside the unsealed fairing for the flow separation event you’re talking about to occur.

[@user2C47]

@@captainmaim Real life reaction wheels get saturated.

[@terpcj]

As this is still an experiment rocket (in my book, until you get three successful, non-nail-biting launches in a row, any new up-goer is experimental), I can't fathom why anyone would want live payloads on it. The cost-benefit seems iffy.

[@Dovorans]

University cubesats are generally teaching projects, it's just a bonus if they actually make it to space. So it's absolutely worth the massive discount of an untested rocket.

[@jctripplesticks]

The unfortunate side is that you only get one, maybe two, of those before you have to start getting a return. Astra is unfortunately going to be in that category of a very short prototype/test phase and everything has to go smoothly after that or they run the risk of so many private space companies before them

[@Markle2k]

It seems particularly brutal to the students. But maybe they get on because nobody else is going to risk their stuff even at a reduced price. They roll the dice and maybe get into space. The NASA payload is a tech demo so it wouldn't get to go on a real mission. ELANA is NASA funded, so it is all US Gov money, not Uni money, to be clear.

[@narobii9815]

@@Markle2k For the student payloads, those can be down to $10k for the mission launch on experimental launches which is around 1/100th the normal cost.

[@russellhltn1396]

Having no payload is a total waste. Clearly, some have decided that taking the risk is worth it given the deep discount.

[@werewolfnar]

I like how "Astra went straight up off the pad" is a clarification that is actually necessary.

[@jvckrs]

Well, on one of the previous videos, a first stage engine failed to ignite and the rest of the engines compensating pushed the booster sideways off the pad before gaining altitude. That was interesting!

[@zacrintoul]

You must mean straight up off the pad. I would argue it went straight off the pad before... Just in the horizontal direction.

[@RedLP5000S]

I was waiting for your detailed analysis about this launch. You didn't disappoint. Cheers.

[@drc_1990]

Excellent analysis. The bright side is that this seems like something that is easy to correct. Sad that fairing separation was the issue that ruined this mission though. I suppose it’s probably one of three things: hardware quality control, software that was changed between LV0007 and 0008, or just a poor design entirely and LV0007 got lucky.

[@ReneSchickbauer]

Nothing is as easy as you'd think in engineering. Basic rule for project estimation: Take your best guess, then double the number and go to the next highest unit. So, if you think it will take 2 days, double the 2 and change "days" to "weeks", and you end up with "4 weeks".

[@GregConquest]

As Hashim pointed out, the rocket sat on the pad for an extended time before the launch. The problem might have been environmental, namely unforeseen humidity freezing at altitude.

[@tma2001]

maybe hiring that former Boeing Starliner engineer who came cheap was a bad idea ? p.s. jk

[@UncleKennysPlace]

@@GregConquest That's a very _Boeing-esque_ sort of failure, if so.

[@Wrangler-fp4ei]

Hope Astra was watching the video. This would be rather helpful if they missed this.

[@dbijenhof]

Excelent analysis and explanation! Watching the launch-footage earlier, I figured that stage 1 and 2 hadn't separated, but now I realise that the fairings must be attached to stage 1 and their failure to release is what kept the two stages together.

[@stevevernon1978]

which really makes it a stage ONE failure, not a stage 2 failure

[@realdizzle87]

Every time I watch Astra launch, I just hear Peppy from Starfox: "Peppy here. All systems go!" "Now, do a barrel roll." "Try a summersault." "Use the boost to get through." "Oh man, guys, looks like I've got to sit this one out."

[@Atlessa]

This footage reminds me more of Falco. "Something's wrong with the G-diffuser."

[@JeffLifeInReview]

Scott Manley videos are the best. This was a great detailed view of the launch and the side by side comparison was amazing. I also found that when you pushed in the video closer, it was beneficial to really following along. Can’t wait for your next in depth video on the launch!

[@AZOffRoadster]

I watched the launch, and a while later read the article on NBC, 90% of which was about the stock price tumbling. Priorities, man.

[@turbofan450]

The mainstream media is worthless. I think it was CNBC that reported that the launch went out of control "almost immediately"... a lie

[@paulholmes1303]

Excellent and timely evaluation, Sir! As a rocketeer myself, we've increasingly used on-board cameras to aid in not only wonderful flight footage but, extremely more valuable, flight systems evaluation. Switchology Telemetry is okay but 'eyes on' is always the winner of the 'What just happened' contest. And echo'ing most all here, you are a Treasure, Scott and thank you for your content!!!

[@nathangoddard8115]

This is outstanding journalism. Thank you for the detailed analysis.

[@jamescollier3]

lol. don't call Anyone a journalist lol

[@destroyergameryt1028]

Are you son on Robert H. Goddard American physicist

[@nathangoddard8115]

@@jamescollier3 Haha. True. That used to be a compliment.

[@shuki1]

Because it is really [amazing] speculation and not proper journalism.

[@vampire4312]

It's not out of control - it is just very excited to be finally free.

[@paca_bill4863]

Excellent video, Scott! When I watched the launch, I wasn't sure what I was looking at, but it obviously wasn't right. It looks like the first stage worked correctly this time. And your explanation sounds like it is probably on the mark, although Astra's root cause analysis should hopefully figure out what went wrong, and they come up with a fix. My gut feeling is that it should not be too insurmountable. After all, there's a lot more experience out there in the field these days.

[@realdizzle87]

The rocket pitched over way too much during ascent. The booster is designed to fall straight down (because the rocket should be going straight up) at stage-sep. This rocket was traveling near perpendicular to the ground at MECO. It appears that upper-stage basically got wedged inside of the booster cowling when they attempted separation - almost certainly because of the unusual attitude. S1 is supposed to go straight up - as high out of the atmosphere as possible, then stage-sep, then the rocket pitches over and the vac-optimized engines just add the delta-v you need to give you orbital-velocity. Things went wrong with this flight seconds after ignition. The rocket was in an abnormal regime for the entire ascent phase.

[@lahma69]

@@realdizzle87 While I have no idea if the launch actually works as you described it, i.e. going straight up (intuitively, it doesn't sound correct to me), I believe you meant "parallel" to the ground.. not perpendicular.

[@maehschaf6699]

@@realdizzle87 uh, nope. How did you come to that conclusion?

[@prathamr17YT]

F in the chat for Astra it had a good rocket

[@lorensims4846]

Reminds me of the first attempt to dock with something else in orbit. The Gemini spacecraft (I forget now which one) was supposed to try to dock with an 'Agena' spacecraft. Unfortunately, the nose faring, which was supposed to split apart and fall away failed to do so. It just split apart slightly. The mission commander reported that it looked "like and angry alligator." They maneuvered around it for several minutes but ultimately the mission had to be scrubbed. Had to try again next time.

[@joevignolor4u949]

That failure happened because the technician working on the fairing had to leave work early because his wife went into labor. When he left he had not yet connected the electrical umbilical that had to fire the ballistics to completely separate the fairing from the docking target and no one ever noticed the error.

[@WanderingYankee]

That would be Gemini 9A, but it was actually the third attempt. Gemini 6 was scrubbed because the Agena's second stage failed to separate and never made orbit. (Gemini 6A would go on to rendevous with Gemini 7 in orbit.) Gemini 8 did successfully dock with the Agena vehicle, but an electrical short in the Gemini capsule caused a thruster to be stuck on resulting in both vehicles tumbling dangerously.

[@stevevernon1978]

@@WanderingYankee wasn't there an Agena for Gemini 9? because the "Angry Alligator" wasn't an actual Agena, but ATDA, a non-powered backup rendezvouz target? so that it was actually 4th attempt?

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

@@stevevernon1978 Yes, that's how the A got attached to the 9 for that mission: Failure of an Atlas-Agena prior to the Gemini's liftoff. Other fun facts: While the 9A mission was in progress, NASA looked at having an astronaut stand up part way out of the capsule after it maneuvered next to the ATDA and cut the remaining band with surgical scissors carried on board. The final decision was that it would be too risky because of stored energy in the fairing jettison system (I concur FWIW). But a couple of Gemini astronauts in Southern California did stop by a hospital to borrow(?) some surgical scissors, then over to the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics water tank (excuse me: neutral bouyancy facility) in Huntington Beach to run through the potential EVA.

[@Macavity116]

They say space is hard, but you know that it's okay, that your fairing simply failed to deploy and you didn't go to space today!

[@Duskraven377]

You know it’s science when someone says “we have a very interesting failure.” Love it

[@MikkoKalavainen]

Aaaabsolutely marvelous thumbnail! Also excellent video, thank you once again for your services. You truly are the MVP of the space community!

[@trimeta]

I came here solely to make sure that Manley said "check yo staging." I wasn't disappointed.

[@pilotgeorge2000]

I said it in the Twitter comments: there's liquid droplets inside the fairing on LV0008. I'm almost certain that it was condensation from the high humidity of cape, and sitting outside for a few days led to that buildup. I would bet a lot of money on the cause of this being a short caused by liquid touching exposed electronics

[@alwayscensored6871]

Maybe frozen water.

[@jeremyperala839]

Ice ice baby. Wd-40 would have saved the day.

[@hashim9882]

LV0008 was sitting out there on the launch pad for more than 20 days. Maybe they should put a tarp on it next time lol

[@AIM54A]

Get water in those latches and freeze it up. That would certainly cause issues.

[@chrisantoniou4366]

Astra already bet against you and they lost so you have a fair chance...

[@witchdoctor6502]

Thank you, I knew something was off in that launch and the comparisson with previous flight helped. Hopefully Astra will find out the root cause soon and go back to launching.

[@iamaduckquack]

We all knew something was off. It was fairly obvious.

[@moistmush3859]

Keep up the good work Scott. You’re one of my favorite KZbinrs!

[@sandervanelslander9964]

Every emergency service needs an astra rocket engine. You never know what you'll need to open next... They are pretty good at breaching fences, doors,...

[@DFPercush]

Pickle jars...

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

@@DFPercush There's a huge market for jar openers, for sure.... The issue is getting it to a size that can fit in a kitchen drawer... 🤔🤣

[@DFPercush]

@@DUKE_of_RAMBLE It just needs to come inside the jar. It'll be the next pull tab on soup cans. The engine is already disposable, we're halfway there!

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

@@DFPercush Hmmmm lol Sounds like half my jar's contents will be on the ceiling, too.... 😅☺️ Style: +10 Upcycling: +10 Practicality: -7 Although... 🤔 I suppose *_*coughs*_* they could always add a warning label: _"CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE -- High Probability of Things Going Sideways Upon Opening."_ (to borrow from present AND past calamities heh)

[@corthew]

Its so awesome all the cameras they have on these missions so they can figure out what went wrong and have a better chance to fix it in future launches.

[@narendra_s99]

Excellent explanation of what exactly happened! Thank you

[@adimchionyenadum2962]

Wow! I didn't even hear about the news, but after this, I feel like I really already have a good knowledge of what happened to this launch. In just one 7-minute KZbin show, I have both the news of the launch and the details of the failure! That is amazing indeed. And mind you I am a complete novice in this field. Thanks Scott for your quality content. You are a great educator.

[@texasslingleadsomtingwong8751]

I vote against the accepted Aluminium , and Aluminum , and will be voting for my younger brother's childhood pronunciation, Amumilum

[@junkmail4613]

1:55 this display, skeletal from inside the rocket factor, IS VERY TELLING. Good choice for the explanation!!! VERY ILLUSTRATIVE!!!

[@CptAJbanned]

You gotta hand Astra one thing, they've given us the best failure footage from all the smallsat launchers

[@MrNeatoMiniStock13]

When I originally watched this launch, I thought the part that moved in the faring was the payload shifting, but hearing you explain that it was the 2nd stage, gave me a better understanding. Sad that this was a failure, and hopefully they can get back on track again.

[@ryano.8768]

I wonder when the last time there was a fairing issue, that we know of. Maybe the Taurus rockets?

[@Markle2k]

SpaceX had a NRO sat get stuck in a fairing before. But the customer insisted on using a fairing of their own design and they've since just used SpaceX's fairings. That was the Zuma launch in 2018.

[@ryano.8768]

@@Markle2k I was under the impression that Zuma was stuck to the 2nd stage because of the third party coupler, not designed by space x.

[@baldusi]

@@Markle2k That was the payload adaptor, the part that attaches the satellite to the rocket and then separates. Fairing was nominally separated. Zuma failed to separate from the spend upper stage. Taurus is the last fairing failure I remember. And it was due to a supplier falsifying the material certificated for the aluminum stock from which the frangible joints where machined.

[@hannesgroesslinger]

I remember an Indian rocket failing to reach orbit a couple of years ago because the fairing didn't seperate. But I don't remember any more details than this.

[@TheTrebb]

There is some debris/small component that hits the fairing at first stage cutoff (1:04 in Scotts film) and looks like it causes damage to the fairing and release mechanism. I’m surprised Scott didn’t talk about that. 🤔 Otherwise another brilliant vid! 👍😜

[@marktheshark8320]

"Their stock price took a huge dive" -Stock Manley (fly safe)

[@jamesyoder11]

The slogan for Stock Manley should be "buy safe"

[@aineshgodse4568]

*Scott 'Fly Safe' Manley.

[@jimstand]

I have worked in manufacturing environments. No one would be allowed to wear a watch or a wedding ring while working as at 2:10 . Take them off and leave them in your locker.

[@djolley61]

I'm surprised that the engine would ignite without confirmation that the fairings have detached.

[@EstorilEm]

I was thinking that too (at first) but essentially the mission is lost regardless, and there’s nothing more they can do to coax the fairings apart. The only option left is to give it a shot and hope that the stage somehow remains stable.

[@djolley61]

@@EstorilEm Right, it's depending on that last burn to get into orbit, just wonder if there is a short cushion of time to maybe troubleshoot something like that before firing the engine. I guess they have a sequence all programmed in and maybe there just isn't a margin for error.

[@lancedover4086]

Thank you for the insightful review. Hopefully they can trace it back and implement a fix because we definitely need more commercial launch.

[@skelethornbro]

If it can recover from that spin and go on, they are going to be on the top rank together with their engineers.

[@GregConquest]

I don't think any design would carry enough fuel for any such a correction (though maybe you're joking). Since major orientation deviations, even moreso such flips, happen so rarely, engineers would not budget that extra fuel weight in the second stage. And even more extra fuel would be required in the first stage just to carry the extra second stage fuel that would not normally be used. That's a lot of extra fuel, and economizing fuel load is one of the fundamentals of rocket science.

[@ImMortal468]

@@GregConquest Kinda curious if there are any reaction wheels in that stage. Many times they have saved my ass from unstable rocket in KSP.

[@maehschaf6699]

@@ImMortal468 Sadly, reaction wheels are far less powerfull IRL and also need to be desaturated with rcs. I doubt the second stage would be able to do that but tbh I don't know how their upper stage controls orientation. The engine does not look like it gimbals..

[@trs4u]

@@GregConquest I'd guess the energy in the tumble would be far less than the marginal extra fuel the second stage would carry. The difficulty is either not being able to direct thrust to counteract the tumble alone, or not being able to 'toot' the thrust in a sequence of thrusts timed and aimed with fantastic (literal meaning) precision to both cancel out the tumble and to contribute to motion along the intended path. Without incredible gimbal limits and fantastic thrust control, the only option would be fuel-exhausting barnstorming. You're right, just wanted to say it's not exclusively an energy problem.

[@ImMortal468]

@@maehschaf6699 then what about spin stabilizing whole rocket?

[@supejc]

I love the help step rocket, I’m stuck thumbnail

[@Barbreck1]

SO close! For the sake of one small latch too! Arrgh! I feel for them.

[@bluestraveler2980]

Thank You, Scott Manley.

[@dedasdude]

if this happens in ksp, u can just cut the throttle and use non-physics time warp to arrest the spin. they should have tried that.

[@RedSkysAreOnFire]

something sparked behind the lower stage camera before the fairing is suppose to extend, you can see a molten object floating past the camera, looks like what happens when a fuse does what its supposed to do when the voltage is too high, or a cable burns out at a weak spot.

[@edgallagher8675]

Thanks Scott for that analysis. Here's the thing. I bought some Astra stock back in December and I expected to sell my stock right after this launch. I presumed that it would be a success and that the stock would rise significantly. Astra's first money shot and all. lol So I was watching this livestream on tv, I had my stock ap on my phone, watching the stock price in real time and I had my laptop with my stock trading ap open with the sell order ready to send in case something bad should happen. So typically average trading volume is about 6 million shares per day. I watched Astra's stock price rise as the launch came close. It rose to about 5.70 and the volume was about 6 million. But 10 minutes prior to launch the stock dipped to 5.60 and volume rose to 8 million. Then just the time the rocked blasted off, I notice the stock suddenly drop to 5.01 and the volume was now 18 million. So someone dumped 10 million shares at the moment of blastoff. As soon as I saw the second stage start to spin, I hit the sell order. I sold at 5 bucks and then within seconds saw it drop to 3.90. So it makes me wonder if the person behind the 10 million sell order knew something. I'm not into conspiracies but perhaps there should be an investigation. Perhaps Astra has a saboteur. Investing in a rocket startup is risky and I'm willing to assume the risk as long as I know that the game is fair. In this case, it seems the game is rigged against Astra. First it was this preditory short seller published this hit piece just before the PIPE investors lockup came to an end and then this (if my suspicions are correct). I hope they investigate this well and I hope my suspicions are unfounded.

[@thisisnotajoke]

I think your "theory" is a bit far fetched... "buy the rumor, sell the news" is just a very basic trading recommendation for any highly speculative asset. So selling right at the moment of launch is actually a pretty good strategy, especially with a rocket that doesn't have a long success record yet: Everything might go well and the stock might rise higher, but it also could fail and the stock plummets -> selling at liftoff is a low risk strategy to somewhat optimize your returns.

[@Ulfcytel]

One explanation could be that investors were hedging their risk by dumping shares at the pre-launch high point, given the significant risk of failure in what is still an experimental rocket. Taking what profit they had and running, rather than gambling on a complete success.

[@thisisnotajoke]

@@Ulfcytel exactly this :)

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

@@Ulfcytel And now with the shares being substantially lower, they can buy it all back at half the price -- or twice as much -- and do it all over again next launch. In the meantime, price will likely crawl back up, and they'll be ahead even then. If they bought 2x but only sell 1/2 just before launch, then they made bank *again*. Since next one has a high chance of success, the remaining 1/2 will be worth that much more! Shame I don't have money to play with. heh

[@marcmcreynolds2827]

@@DUKE_of_RAMBLE "Likely"? Assuming that the shares will go back up is a big assumption, especially in a rising interest rate environment as that tends to make life harder for the more speculative (e.g. negative cash flow) investments. The fact that so many people were looking to get out, all jockeying for just the right moment, also doesn't bode well. But no one knows the future, so if it's right back up there ahead of the next launch, anyone so inclined can cut and paste this: Ha! as a reply to this comment : )

[@lifefordummies]

Scott Manley is how i keep up with space news. Great channel. Great accent. Fly safe.

[@joshmellon390]

This company can't catch a break man..

[@coreys2686]

Like the man says, "Space is hard."

[@dagger4146]

There seemed to be a lot of steering inputs on the first stage just before MECO, you could see it from the gas trail directly behind the booster. The weather was perfect and so was the visibility, you could see the second stage start to tumble for about a second and a half before it vanished. I would like to see the steering telemetry from the launch, it looked like the rocket was struggling before separation.

[@MorselOfBread]

They just cannot do this on the news... ALL the pro news channels. Thank you, Scott!!!

[@absalomdraconis]

First thing I see is ~ 2:39, where there's some spark floating down- I would have to guess that the explosive in an exploding bolt or similar pyrotechnic escaped when ignited, instead of doing it's job.

[@Anmeteor9663]

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

[@jedi9577]

Came here to hear Scott say "check yo staging", was not disappointed. I wish Astra all the best in their investigation and hope they can fly again soon!

[@henrik3141]

Flying vertical is already a nice achievement. Now just the fairing needs to go away vertical

[@allangibson2408]

No the fairing needs to go horizontally (the booster is usually horizontal when the second stage separates to reach orbital velocity).

[@kaseimir]

Just a shout out to you Scott, I've been watching your videos since 2014 when I first discovered KSP. You basically taught me how to use it and I eventually got to every planet and moon including the asteroid. So, indirectly, you've taught me what I know about rocket science. I seem to have developed a good rocket with asparagus staging to get me into orbit and a silly but effective rover for roaming around. I've just started using KSP again after a long time, and couldn't help but notice when it's loading it says "Flying Safe", which is obviously a direct reference to you. Thank You my friend for all the great videos you've posted!

[@alanjenkins1508]

The moral of the story is test your payload fairing deployment technology vigorously and thoroughly and keep it simple. I am talking to you Rocket Lab.

[@razor1uk610]

with such a simple name of factory/company, you'd expect them to be less complacent, but, ..damn, a simple name for simpler thinking.

[@TheEmeraldMenOfficial]

Happened to NASA too during Gemini

[@adamreynolds3863]

You make really good and informative videos, I appreciate the research and work that you do Scott!

[@harmonyspaceagency1743]

Do companies/universities usually have backups? Is there a partial refund for the destroyed hardware? Never figured how that works.

[@coast2coast00]

Normally companies get some kind of insurance. Check out the wikipedia entry satellite insurance.

[@donjones4719]

Satellites launched for commercial companies are usually insured but idk if universities can afford to do that, or if there is a cost benefit for just a cubesat. Afaik NASA is self-insured - just another way of saying not insured.

[@Dovorans]

University satellites are largely teaching projects, it's just a bonus if they actually make it to space. Also generally a launch failure means that you get your next copy of the satellite sent up for free.

[@cogoid]

Failure of larger missions can actually be quite horrible for the university researchers, beyond the monetary value of hardware. People stake their career on some unique instrument that they spend years developing, and if it fails, that's basically the entire research project that gets delayed or cancelled. "I have worked on something that failed to launch" is nothing to brag about, despite all the effort put into it. Heartbreaking.

[@LMPGames]

"check your staging" -- KSP related PTSD activate!

[@pamus6242]

Scott, Honestly the News you give has effects on the Stock Market.

[@PapiBocaChula]

You can see the Earth, ever so slighty by the bottom left corner of LV8 first cam. when the fairing was supposed to pop off at 4:30. you can see the light of the Earth and the curvature.

[@MrFaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

could they have saved this if they pulsed the engine? (ie, blow the doors open with the exhaust from a partial startup->shutdown)

[@eduardopupucon]

in real life engines have a limited amount of ignitions and usually can't throttle all the way down to 0%, wouldn't be suprised if that engine only had 1 ignition

[@michaelreagan7149]

I feel for these guys. I hope they find the issue, fix it, and complete a successful mission on their next attempt.

[@AnthonyRBlacker]

From your statement at the very end, it actually sounds like today is the day to buy Astra stock.. they'll get past this, I'm sure of it

[@hashim9882]

The stock price plummet pulled Astra’s valuation below $1 Billion For context, Rocket Lab is at $4.6B Virgin Orbit at $2.6B Virgin Galactic at $2.3B

[@muzero2642]

That thumbnail text is just what you’d expect. My man Scott is a real G

[@ThatBoomerDude56]

2:09 Well, here's one discrepancy. You said they use *aluminium* whereas rockets made in the United States are *supposed to* use *aluminum.* 😁😁 😝

[@BrassLock]

All their ground vehicles run on *tyres,* but they're supposed to run on *tires.* Thus you can expect more drama in the future.

[@hughbrackett343]

Aluminum is for cheap junk like soda cans. The Good Stuff uses Aluminium. 🤡

[@donjones4719]

Hey, he did learn to pronounce *methane* to sound like methamphetamine - the true American way. And I actually preferred him saying meethane.

[@ThatBoomerDude56]

@@donjones4719 Yes. Meethane sounds better. As does aluminium. The British pronunciation sounds more formal and original. And, to be fair, they did develop some of this stuff before we did.

[@foxecho727]

Saw this launch from my driveway in Cocoa FL didn't think anything was wrong until I started getting my phone blown up with texts from a friend...great analysis as usual!

[@joshshaffer2666]

Great rundown of likely root causes…really cheering for Astra to keep working out the bugs. 👍🏻

[@tortysoft]

Brilliant and rapid explanation - again ! I saw the shocking event live and did rather notice the tumble myself ....

[@goolash1000]

They forgot to check their staging.

[@goolash1000]

@UCXtvJzz8Vg2YsZTCo-_XHXw Whenever Scott forgets to set his staging right in KSP, he says, "Check yo' staging!" as things separate in the wrong order or fail to separate at all.

[@01kalvin]

When ksp randomly puts your fairing separation node at the end

[@peter4210]

I love how space x was laughted at for building rockets differently but now has a unmatched launch cadence and realability.

[@zelwojtek]

Great comparative analysis and background detail good sir. Sharing in the sentiment that this is worked through quickly and launches resume soon.

[@detroit149]

Could it have been related to the recent activity in the sun? Great video!

[@zyeborm]

unlikely but not impossible, nothing at that point in the launch should have that little margin

[@restojon1]

That's an interesting theory, usually when you suffer a failure you çan track it down to; Mechanical, electrical or fuel related but every now and then you can get an environmental cause for a fault/malfunction.

[@austinevplab7167]

Brilliant job! I loved the comparisons between L7 & L8. That really helped me understand something I knew nothing about.

[@hatacoyama1246]

help me step rocket im stuck

[@VenturiLife]

"Many Kerbals died to bring us this information..."

[@maxisalamone]

This happened like a thousand times to me in Kerbal Space Program!

[@charleslord2433]

I have faith in Astra! I bought 500 shares after the stock plummeted under $4. They'll get there.

[@Baekstrom]

I can only imagine the nauseating feeling the engineers who worked on these systems must have, when they see this happen. On the other hand, catastrophic failures is a part of the business.

[@darkpepsi]

John Garvey (he did Delta Clipper Rocket concept that failed) comes to mind when he was interviewed by PBS Nova on Rise of the Rockets about catastrophic failures of every type and exactly says: "Don't join the rocket business if you don't except catastrophic failures."

[@EstorilEm]

Not part of the business when you’ve got investors and potential payload customers… Astra has had a number of failures due to some pretty stupid (and embarrassing) stuff at this point.

[@RandomJ2023]

I theorized while watching it originally that the separations somehow got reversed, the fairings we not released first, it's almost like the 2nd stage and fairing separation were somehow reversed. Weird I know but explains the release and then stoppage , then BAM exploded the fairings out.

[@thelonelyrogue3727]

Me when I can't get my belt off to pee...

[@gsdjparaeventossocialesdjg9679]

Excellent review of what happened Scott. Greets from Argentina!

[@richlo8887]

It's not A lu minium, Scott! It's aluminum!!

[@scottmanley]

I can tell you’re not a scientist.

[@kessedk]

Wow Scott! Just love your analysis! Great work 💪

[@hashim9882]

Speaking of the stock, here are some interesting figures regarding the market values of launch companies: SpaceX: $100B Rocket Lab: $4.6B Virgin Orbit: $2.7B Astra: $1.01B

[@jimmyzhao2673]

Someone out there forgot to remove one of those tags that says *'Remove Before Flight'*

[@heh2393]

Press F boys

[@gooterz]

I'd guess that those pistons have a transport mode to prevent injuries. Its surprising they didn't detect the issue before it was made worse, have to wonder how much was preprogrammed and what controls they had flighttime. If you are going to blast off the fairing and 1st stage its usually better to start a roll first to keep the alignment or at least the roll can remove the fairing.

[@MarvelousLXVII]

I love the live commentary (going by memory): "As you can see the second stage has ignited." Everyone cheered lol.

[@gavinthomas214]

Incredible that this camera footage exists to help determine the cause of failure. Great commentary Scott.

[@gottagift]

Usually, when i see video of military aircraft on a carrier or tarmac i tend to notice that any armaments attached to the aircraft have Tags attached that must be removed in order to arm the weapons before the aircraft takes flight. You also notice various tags and pins on the aircraft prior to it being piloted and it's engines are fired up. My guess is that somebody had one job to do and that was to remove the pre-launch tags/pins from the fairings and somehow they forgot to do so. Human error tends to occur from time to time.

[@shauljonah6955]

In the 3:40 to 3:43 there os also a part of something flying around or bouncing around it shows as white and it's near your arrow.