AIR FORCE ACADEMY - The test-firing of a rocket built by Cadets in the Air Force Academy's FalconLaunch program was a disaster when the rocket blew up Wednesday morning.
The rocket was originally scheduled to launch in Virginia two years ago but the discovery of a crack scrubbed the launch. Despite the existing crack, the rocket was again scheduled for launch from White Sands Missile Range in April 2009 but the proximity of a national monument canceled the firing.
The FalconLaunch 6 rocket was held in a test stand and was expected to burn for 10.5 seconds and generate 4,100 pounds of thrust but instead detonated into pieces. No one was injured in the test-firing.
FalconLaunch is the product of the Astronautical engineering 452 and 452 courses, a two-semester senior capstone design course for cadets where they learn space by doing space. Over the course of the year the cadets build, test and fly a solid-fueled sounding rocket carrying Department of Defense payloads.
