Blimey...antares just blew up 6 seconds into lift off....

[Dave Lloyd]

Apparently these Antares rockets are functioning quite in excess of their original performance design. I think rocket science is quite simple but rocket ENGINEERING must be fiendish.

[denmonkey]

Very lucky it wasn't manned

[davkt]

Apparently these Antares rockets are functioning quite in excess of their original performance design. I think rocket science is quite simple but rocket ENGINEERING must be fiendish.

Yup, rocket science is basically f=ma but the tech of harnessing enough f to make a big enough to get out of the gravity well without going boom is the tricky bit!

[Cornelius Varley]

Four similar threads merged together.

[DaveS]

I recall, from decades ago now, that at lift-off a Saturn V had as much energy on board as a small atomic bomb. Which made getting the crew to safety in the event of a (Potentially survivable) "mishap" something of a problem.

Which shows two things, just how much energy is needed to get into orbit and escape Earth, and just how inefficient our launch systems are.

[Cath]

Very lucky it wasn't manned

Manned rockets have launch escape systems these days. It's the long pointy bit you see on the top of manned rockets (unmanned rockets don't have them).

[SlyReaper]

This has happened to me more than a few times.  So many kerbals lost.