Launch Failures
On 14 March, a Proton-M with a Briz-M upper stage launched AMC-14. Several hours later, on 15 March, the Briz-M engine cut off prematurely during a burn, leaving the satellite in a medium Earth orbit. Following a small legal dispute, the satellite was sold, and raised to a geosynchronous orbit by its manoeuvring thrusters, at the expense of a large amount of its fuel and hence operational life.
On 3 August, SpaceX launched the third Falcon 1. Due to residual thrust caused by the upgraded Merlin-1C engine which was being flown for the first time, the first stage recontacted the second during staging, resulting in the rocket failing to reach orbit. The Trailblazer, PreSat and NanoSail-D satellites were lost in the failure, as was a space burial capsule, containing the remains of several hundred people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, actor James Doohan, writer and director John Meredyth Lucas and Apollo mission planner Mareta West.
On 16 August, Iran launched a Safir, which though officially successful, was reported to have failed due to a second stage malfunction. The purpose of this launch is in doubt, as before the launch it was claimed that it would place the Omid into orbit, whilst following the launch, it was reported that a boilerplate payload had been launched. Other reports indicated that the launch was only a suborbital test of the rocket. If this was an orbital launch attempt, it was the first Iranian attempt to launch a satellite.
Read more about this topic: 2008 In Spaceflight
Famous quotes containing the words launch and/or failures:
“I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following the same law with the system, with time, and all that is made ... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Maybe it’s understandable what a history of failures America’s foreign policy has been. We are, after all, a country full of people who came to America to get away from foreigners. Any prolonged examination of the U.S. government reveals foreign policy to be America’s miniature schnauzer—a noisy but small and useless part of the national household.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)