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Europe in space (3)
meanwhile, on the European side of the space program...
Kourou
French Guyana
November 5 1971
Europa F11 exploded two and half minute in flight.
The rocket was in fact doomed for a moment, flying erratically like a beheaded duck. Telemetry had been lost 107 seconds into the flight, after the inertial platform went dead.
Five minutes later, fragments of the rocket rained in the Atlantic Ocean, 500 km away from French Guyana. The Europa program sunk with them.
Months later, the inquiry (led by a bright german engineer with the name of Lutz Kayser) would conclude that none stage fitted exactly onto the other; Great Britain, France and Germany had built perfectly uncooperative segments, dooming the program.
Europa F11’s failure echoed Shuttle cancellation by some days.
Both ESRO and NASA were now deep in problems.
Goodbye, Europa...
Kourou
French Guyana
November 5 1971
Europa F11 exploded two and half minute in flight.
The rocket was in fact doomed for a moment, flying erratically like a beheaded duck. Telemetry had been lost 107 seconds into the flight, after the inertial platform went dead.
Five minutes later, fragments of the rocket rained in the Atlantic Ocean, 500 km away from French Guyana. The Europa program sunk with them.
Months later, the inquiry (led by a bright german engineer with the name of Lutz Kayser) would conclude that none stage fitted exactly onto the other; Great Britain, France and Germany had built perfectly uncooperative segments, dooming the program.
Europa F11’s failure echoed Shuttle cancellation by some days.
Both ESRO and NASA were now deep in problems.
Goodbye, Europa...
- Archibald
- Word Count: 140