NSS 8 launch disaster 30th January 2007.
30th January and theres another launch to watch. NSS8 is due to go to 57E to serve Europe and India. I had been looking forward to this one for ages as it was lifting off from the converted oil rig "Sea Launch" system. This would be my first live liftoff from Sea Launch so it was something a bit different to watch. Coverage was carried on Astra 1D 10891H 22000 5/6 for Europe, so I had specially rigged up an offset lnb on my 16E dish to watch the coverage.
As the pictures below show the launch was rather more spectacular than anyone had ever expected, with the Zenit 3SL rocket blowing up on the pad when the main engines started! All the photos are from the last few seconds before main engine start, and the comments are my interpretation of events from the somewhat fuzzy images we got from the support boat 4 miles from the launchpad. Despite the dramatic end to the launch, no-one was hurt, and Odyssey - the platform - is believed to be only slightly damaged. Poor old NSS8 is scattered in millions of pieces on the bottom of the Pacific...........
Picture 1 shows all well on the platform in the last 10 seconds of the countdown
Picture 2 - steam billows out below the Zenit rocket as the motors fire. The rocket is clamped to the pad until sufficient thrust builds up.
Picture 3 - compare the height of the top of the rocket nose cone to the mast over on the right of the platform in pictures 2 & 3. Poor old NSS8 is already in serious trouble as the launcher has already dropped quite a long way, and the final detonation is just a matter of time as the Zenit starts to break up having travelled about minus 50 feet!
Picture 4 - as the nosecone carrying NSS8 drops below the level of the mast the Zenit launcher finally breaks up and explodes....
Picture 5 - the explosion resets the white balance on the camera as the Odyssey platform is enveloped in a gigantic ball of flame...
Picture 6 - one of the final frames transmitted before the feed was cut. The picture says it all really.
Picture 7 - Sea Launch abruptly cut the transmission and radiate this company logo for a few minutes.
You can see the last 2 minutes of the count down, and the explosion on You Tube
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