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Brazilian rocket explodes in maiden flight
by Frank Sietzen "SpaceCast News Service"  Nov. 3, 1997 - Brazil's first attempt at joining the world's space powers ended in failure a minute after launch Sunday when the VLS-1 space booster exploded in mid-air above the Alcantara Spaceport on the Atlantic coast. Aboard the launcher was the Brazilian SCD2 research satellite, built by the Space Research Institute of Brazil. Ground controllers destroyed the 65-ft tall rocket at an altitude of 9,000 feet when it veered off course due to an engine malfunction.The VLS launch capped a decade-long development program by the government of Brazil in the development of an indigenous space booster. The all-solid rocket can place payloads ranging from 200 to 700 pounds into low, 400 mile high orbits. The equatorial launch site of Alcantara makes the new Spaceport an attractive location with the potential of hosting commercial space boosters in the future. The setback may cause months of redesign before the VLS can be launched again. Since the mid-1960's Brazil has developed a series of advanced solid fuel rockets used to excplore the upper atmosphere. Named the Sonda or sounding rocket family, the series was among the world's most advanced research rockets for scientific atmospheric research. The VLS was an evolved version of the largest sounding rocket, Sounda 6 and featured upper stages that could inject small satellites into orbit, an advance over the less powerful Sounda series. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space
Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India. |
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