Small rocket launcher Exos Aerospace had its third rocket failure out of three attempts last Saturday.
Watch the Launch failure video:
Click for 5 minute Video
Launch event Timeline: +0:40 Launch T-0
+0:47 The rocket spins out of control at T+5 seconds into flight. At T+7 seconds the rocket momentarily appears to be flying parallel to the ground.
+1:16 Camera has lost sight of the rocket. He is looking the wrong way vs. the person with binoculars.
+2:12 Cameraman says, “Sorry guys, can’t find it yet.”
+2:57 Cameraman says, “I got nothing, dude.”
+4:00 Still missing
+4:42 Floats into view under a GPS-steerable parachute. “Smoke” is fuel being dumped over the desert.
+5:00 Cameraman narrates that the rocket is “Dumping Fuel.”
Watch the 3+ hour official video and notice how few people are actually involved in the rocket setup, fueling, and launch. An aluminum extension ladder provides access to the middle point of the rocket. There’s just not much value on display. Exos Aerospace: 3 Launches, 3 Failures.
3-hour Official Video:
News Story:
Camden Commissioners cannot tell us how this kind of activity can generate enough revenue for Camden County to pay back taxpayers’ “investment?”
By the way, the rocket was built in a Texas workshop and launched in New Mexico. The rocket was started by Armadillo Aerospace:
Armadillo Aerospace was an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal in 2000 was to build a crewed suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, and it had also stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.
On October 24, 2008, Armadillo won $350,000 by succeeding in the Level 1 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. On September 12, 2009, Armadillo won $500,000 by succeeding in Level 2 of the same challenge.
In 2010, they signed an exclusive deal with Space Adventures. Armadillo Aerospace was to provide a sub-orbital rocket to fly tourists into space, while Space Adventures would sell tickets for the experience.
In August 2013, Carmack announced that Armadillo Aerospace had been put in "hibernation mode," following setbacks including the crash of the STIG-B rocket in January 2013.
In May 2014, several former employees of Armadillo Aerospace formed a new company, Exos Aerospace. From Wikipedia
Launching rockets takes real rocket science. Space is hard.