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
127. Titan II (Bold Guy), 21 Sep 65, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: After a normal first-stage flight, the second stage was shut down immediately after start by an erroneous guidance command. 128. IIIC (65-212), 15 Oct 65, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 4 and 5: Normal mission through transtage second ignition and bum. One chamber of transtage engine failed to shutdown completely, resulting in a pitch-up deviation, loss of control, vehicle tumbling, and an unplanned orbit. 131. Titan II (Cross Fire), 30 Nov 65, Response Mode 5, Flight Phase 2: Trouble apparently began between 208 and 214 seconds when the rate and track beacons were lost. The radar tracked till about 360 - 380 seconds, indicating a ballistic- type trajectory veering to the right. Loss of control was due to a fuel leak at the crossover manifold. 134. IIIC (66-001), 21 Dec 65, Vehicle 8, Response Mode NA, Flight Phase 5: Nominal mission through transtage second burn shutdown. Attitude control system engine failed to shutdown following vernier bum with resulting fuel depletion and loss of attitude control. 135. Titan II (Sea Rover), 22 Dec 65, Response Mode 4T, Flight Phase 2: Flight was apparently normal until some point well into second-stage bum. Track then indicated erratic movement left of nominal, then right of nominal, but with little downrange movement of the IP. Automatic fuel cutoff was sent at 396 seconds. Failure resulted from improper rigging of sustainer actuator that exceeded control-system capability. 142. Titan II (Silver Bullet), 24 May 66, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2.5: Flight was normal except that R/V did not separate, causing a 20-mile uprange miss. 148. IIIC (66-005), 26 Aug 66, Vehicle 12, Response Mode 4T, Flight Phase 0: Payload fairing failed during Stage-0 powered flight. The failure at 79 seconds resulted in violent maneuvering and self destruct (ISDS). 159. Titan II (Glamour Girl), 12 Apr 67, Response Mode 4T, Flight Phase 2: First-stage flight was normal. About 15 seconds after second-stage ignition, failure of the yaw-rate gyro resulted in violent roll and pitch maneuvers. Missile impacted about 660 miles downrange. 160. IIIB/ Agena D (Busy Tailor), 26 Apr 67, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: Flight appeared normal through first-stage cutoff and separation. About 15 seconds into the second stage, a fuel-line blockage resulted in a drop in chamber pressure that reduced the thrust to about half its normal level. As a result, the velocitvJ eventually stopped increasing. The IP moved slightly farther downrange and remained on azimuth until loss of signal at 300 seconds. Impact was about 600 miles downrange. 9/10/96 161 RTI
Not linked to a story yet.
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.