cjameshuff t1_j12f45p wrote
Reply to comment by kdiuro13 in ESA's Vega-C launcher has suffered a failure in its first commercial flight by kdiuro13
It looked like it lit, burned a while, then something happened that caused the plume to become much wider and more diffuse, and the stage was either gyrating or tumbling. Maybe a major failure of the nozzle?
Barrrrrrnd t1_j12mtuo wrote
That’s what I was thinking. Either they burned through it or the back fell off. Either way they lost command authority and thrust.
citoloco t1_j12x6ya wrote
What about the front?
TADthePaperMaker t1_j16ei2f wrote
Well it’s not supposed to fall off, I can tell you that right now.
cjameshuff t1_j15y1jx wrote
It seems like the third stage separated and ignited normally, and that's attached to the front. Maybe it broke away before that though, the CGI was obviously not an accurate depiction of what was going on.
[deleted] t1_j15g22w wrote
[removed]
jgf556 t1_j14545c wrote
Might have been the plume going over the first stage.
cjameshuff t1_j14qd99 wrote
It happened about a minute into the second stage burn, and lasted for the remainder of the burn. https://youtu.be/CokbWoYm9w4?t=1103
jgf556 t1_j14ri6f wrote
Ah ok, didn't pick that up
TbonerT t1_j151tje wrote
Probably something like that. You can see the speed start to drop right then, too.
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