Sea Launch - NSS-8 Launch Failure

NSS-8 Launch Failure

See also: NSS-8

On January 30, 2007, the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket carrying NSS-8 and 500 tons of fuel exploded on launch. Available imagery, which includes a video of the accident on YouTube, shows a fireball much larger than the launch platform at sea level.

Since the launch pad platform is vacated by all engineers during the automated launch process, there were no injuries. On February 1, 2007 Sea Launch released a statement detailing its status.

It is believed that the failure was caused by a foreign object being ingested by the engine, causing the rocket to crash immediately.

On February 3, 2007, photographs of the damage were posted on internet forums. The launch platform damage is mostly superficial, though blast deflectors underneath the launch platform were knocked loose and were lost when they fell into the sea.

In March 2007, shortly after the NSS-8 launch failure, Hughes Network Systems switched the launch of SPACEWAY-3 from a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL to an Ariane 5.

Repairs of the launch platform were completed in September, 2007. The Sea Launch platform underwent repairs in Canada, docked near CFB Esquimalt, just west of Victoria, British Columbia, and departed on July 31, 2007. Both vessels returned to their home port in Long Beach, California.

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