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
D.4.2 Titan Failure Narratives The following narratives provide available details about each Titan failure since the beginning of the Titan I program in 1959. The narratives are numbered to match the flight-sequence numbers in Section D.4.1. 7. B-5, 14 Aug 59, Response Mode 1, Flight Phase 1: Umbilicals were prematurely pulled from missile resulting in engine shutdown and impact on pad. 8. C-3, 12 Dec 59, Response Mode 1, Flight Phase 1: Missile destroyed itself just before liftoff. 10. C-4, 5 Feb 60, Response Mode 4T, Flight Phase 1: While pitch program was in progress, a structural failure occurred in transition section. Nose cone broke off, and missile lost aerodynamic stability. Shortly after, an explosion and fire destroyed the missile. 12. C-1, 8 Mar 60, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: Failure of gas-generator valve to open prevented Stage-II ignition. 13. G-5, 22 Mar ·60, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2.5: Premature shut down of vernier engines resulted in impact 38 miles short of target. 14. C-5, 8 Apr 60, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: Although Stage-I performance was low, Stage II successfully separated and ignited. All data were lost about 50 seconds later, apparently due to malfunction of Stage II turbopump. 20. J-2, 1 Jul 60, Response Mode 2, Flight Phase 1: Shortly after launch, hydraulic power to engine actuators was lost so control could not be maintained. The missile veered northwest and pitched down (Flight azimuth was 105.97°). Missile was destroyed by RSO 11 seconds after liftoff. 21. J-4, 28 July 60, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 1: Stage I thrusting flight was terminated prematurely at 101 seconds (Nominal, 136 seconds). Stage II engine did not start, apparently because the auxiliary turbopumps did not receive sufficient head pressure to effect a successful start. 22. J-7, 10 Aug 60, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: Stage II engine shutdown 0.17 seconds early and solo vernier operation did not occur. Impact was 107 miles short of target. 25. G-8, 29 Sep 60, Response Mo.de 4, Flight Phase 1: Stage I shut down prematurely when a low-level sensor malfunctioned and ceased to be locked out. Stage II performed properly but shutdown prematurely due to propellant depletion. The impact was some 3600 miles short of the 8700-mile target point. 9/10/96 157 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.