Aug 22 2008
From The Space Library
NASA range-safety officials destroyed an ATK suborbital rocket that had swerved off course shortly after lifting off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF). Officials were not sure what had caused the ALV X-1 launch vehicle to fail 27 seconds after its 5:10 (EDT) launch. The rocket carried US$11 million worth of NASA experiments, including a hypersonic flight experiment called HYBOLT (Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition) and the Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Re-entry Experiments (SOAREX), which would have tested new reentry design elements for spaceflight vehicles. In addition to NASA’s experiments, the rocket’s payload included a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment to test GPS systems. NASA officials stated that they believed that the majority of the debris had fallen into the Atlantic Ocean.
NASA, “NASA and ATK Investigate Failed Launch of Hypersonic Experiments,” news release 08-213, 22 August 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/aug/HQ_08_213_Hybolt_failure.html (accessed 7 July 2011); Carol Vaughn, “Wallops Rocket Launch Fails,” Salisbury Daily Times (MD), 25 August 2008.
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