This Rocket Explosion Is Art - Atlas-Centaur AC-1

Video from the channel Scott Manley about Atlas (familia), linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:25. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Scott Manley analyzes AC-1, the first Atlas-Centaur launch, which in 1962 ended with the rocket breaking up in flight. Footage of the accident was later used in the film Koyaanisqatsi, with music by Philip Glass. Using engineering footage, the author reviews the failure, which starts at the top of the Centaur, near the payload fairing, and clarifies that the umbilical hose that stayed attached to the rocket had nothing to do with the accident.

The Atlas was born as the United States' first intercontinental ballistic missile and soon became a launch vehicle; it flew the Mercury program, which carried John Glenn into Earth orbit. The AC-1 failure occurred a few weeks before Scott Carpenter's flight, which was cleared after the problem was attributed to the upper stage rather than the rocket itself. The investigation blamed the insulating foam panels. Some proposed cancelling the program in favor of the Saturn I, but it went ahead and ended up launching the Surveyor probes to the Moon.

The Centaur was the United States' first experience with hydrogen propulsion: stainless steel tanks that held their shape through internal pressure, and two expander-cycle RL10 engines. The original Atlas lifted off with three engines and jettisoned two in flight without dropping any tank. According to the author, who admits he could not find a definitive report, the real cause would be the rings holding the payload fairing to the tank, which loosened due to differential contraction of the materials.