Posted: 8/20/2011 8:16:11 AM EDT
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Seems flying on a Russian vehicle is the better way to go.
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/17proton/ Or maybe the Chinese. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/18longmarch/ While im posting links can anyone explain the fire exiting the side of this vehicle? Almost appears to be a turbine exhaust duct, but appears to be to high on the vehicle to make sense? 
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| Yeah ive lived across the river from KSC and CCAFS all my short 20 years. Also being lucky enough to get up close and personal with vehicles. being a duct seems to be the only possible option because that picture belongs to a different and successful Russian launch so my guess would be that it was not a launch ending anomaly. |
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I did some digging into the plume question and found that
-It's normal for that booster -Some stated that it is a gas generator for pressurizing the tanks, and others said it was a venting of overpressure I tend to agree with the gas generator idea since it seems to occur at exactly the same time in each vid I saw (at the same time as main engine ignition) and only lasts for a very brief duration. I didn't find a definitive answer, though. Usually it appears as a red plume, but your pic shows flame It blows with the wind in several vids, so it doesn't seem to have high velocity. |