Documents / Report
This final report, dated September 10, 1996, was prepared by the Research Triangle Institute for the Department of the Air Force's 45th and 30th Space Wing safety offices. Titled Modeling Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, it shows how rare Mode-5 failures, in which a rocket veers well off its intended flight line, are modeled in the DAMP risk-analysis program. An appendix lists Atlas, Delta, Titan and Thor launch and failure histories through August 1996.
From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 9/10/96, N/A. This report describes the Modeling of Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, documenting historical launch failure modes and recommending corrective actions to address them using novel modelling techniques.
“Mission Control”17 pages
Sustainer engine shut down at 282 seconds. Missile impacted 1300 miles downrange and 18 miles crossrange. 111. 114D (LV-3A)/Agena B (Ocean Way), 22 Dec 61, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 2: Flight was considered successful although a failure in· the flight programmer prevented the SECO signal from cutting off the sustainer engine. Sustainer burned an additional 2.5 seconds to propellant depletion producing excess Atlas velocity. 114. 121 D (Ranger 3), 26 Jan 62, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 2 and 5: Failure of pulse beacon in guidance system at 49 seconds caused sustainer to burn to LOX depletion, resulting in a 300 ft/sec overspeed. Due to malfunction of pulse beacon at 49 seconds, no guidance steering commands or discretes were given; Booster was cut off by backup signal from accelerometer, sustainer by fuel depletion. Due to excess speed, spacecraft passed 22,000 miles in front of moon, and primary mission objective was not met. All other Atlas and Agena systems performed as planned. 116. 1370 (Big John), 16 Feb 62, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 1.5: Flight was considered successful, although RV did not separate properly. 118. 52D (Chain Smoke), 21 Feb 62, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 1: A fire in the engine comparhnent resulted in shutdown of all engines at 60 seconds and vehicle explosion at 72 seconds. 119. 66E (Silver Spur), 28 Feb 62, Response Mode 4T, Flight Phase 1.5 and 2: Loss of helium-bottle pressure resulted in failure to jettison booster engines and premature vernier-engine cutoff at 131.5 seconds. Cutoff of verniers resulted in loss of roll control. Vehicle exploded at 295 seconds. 122. llF, 9 Apr 62, Response Mode 1, Flight Phase 1: An explosion in thrust section at 0.9 seconds after about 6 feet of motion was followed by-a further explosion in the propellant tanks and total missile destruction at 1.2 seconds. 123. 110D (LV-3A)/ Agena B (Night Hunt), Midas, 9 Apr 62, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 1: An autopilot malfunction prevented sufficient pitchover during booster and sustainer phase resulting in improper SECO conditions and an improper orbit. 128. 104D, 8 May 62, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 1: Flight appeared normal until about 45 seconds when weather shield shifted~ Further shocks occurred at 50 seconds with loss of weather shield. Booster-engine cutoff was initiated at 55 seconds. Missile destroyed itself at 57 seconds due to breakup of Centaur upper stage. Recorded impact was 8500 feet downrange and 8200 feet crossrange. 9/10/96 122 RTI
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Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 181 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.