The Reasons Why Some Rocket Launches Fail Terribly

Mistakes in space launches can be fatal.
Loukia Papadopoulos

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We have all eagerly watched a launch online only to see it delayed or worse. Most often, these launches fail due to some form of human error and that's no joke. Mistakes in the handling of these incredibly complex machines have even proved to be fatal.

However, they are hard to catch before the liftoff stage when the first batch of fuel and propellants are ignited in the rocket’s engines. During this stage, a tremendous amount of gas exits a rocket’s nozzle at incredible velocities making things quite precautious.

You can imagine how at this point any error can be catastrophic. Generating enough energy for a jet to take off requires quite a bit of fuel making any mistake an explosive affair.

One example of this is when SpaceX’s fifth test for its SN4 rocket prototype saw its Raptor engines blow up in a great raging fire. Luckily, no one was hurt during the accident. But things don't always turn out so well.

What are some of the other ways space launches can go wrong? What measures are taken to ensure they don't? What happens when these measures aren't enough? And what are some other examples of catastrophic space launches? This video answers all these questions.

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