>>And I have a picture of a Trident missile about to complete its > second full powered loop at sea level. Presumably it didn't have an armed > warhead at the time :-) << It didn't. I was on the tracking ship about a mile south of the launch. We were a whole lot more concerned that the destruct packages would activate prior to the first stage going back in the water. That happened several years earlier when the first Trident I was launched and subsequently destructed due to a first stage problem. The remaining fuel in the first stage went "high order" after falling back into the water several miles from the submarine. I was on the very same tracking ship seven miles away and the shock wave felt like it moved the whole ship a foot sideways. The folks on the sub were also impressed. Really a blast! Chuck ----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell McMahon" To: Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 4:42 PM Subject: Re: [OT]: Unlikely looking rocket ship > > the black box valve controllers are going to break off, under any kind of > g > > load > > I ran that past John. > He said > > >> The valve motors do tend to break when we crash, but it doesn't cause > leaks. > > Hopefully (!), by the time they get to serious manned flight, crashing will > be an extremely unlikely event. In the earlier days, when every aspect was a > major learning experience, there were some quite interesting crashes. But > none were anywhere as "good" as the disasters of the early US space program. > Such events are an essentially mandatory part of any rocket development > program. I've seen a video of a 100+ foot long US rocket flying sideways at > ground level - gives a whole new (or old) meaning to the HPR term > "landshark". And I have a picture of a Trident missile about to complete its > second full powered loop at sea level. Presumably it didn't have an armed > warhead at the time :-) > > > RM > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.