A Rocket Destroyed Itself at Launch and Saved the Apollo Program | May 19 in Space

Añadido: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]A rocket tore itself apart at launch.

[00:00:02]And that failure may have saved the Apollo program.

[00:00:06]In 1961, Soviet probe Venera 1 became the first spacecraft to fly past Venus.

[00:00:13]Engineers had lost contact months earlier. A faulty thermal regulator had silenced it in February.

[00:00:20]But it still arrived.

[00:00:22]A dead spacecraft reached another world.

[00:00:25]In 1965, NASA tested the Apollo launch escape system atop a Little Joe 2 rocket.

[00:00:32]2 seconds after lift-off, a gyroscope malfunction locked the fins. The booster pitched violently and broke apart in midair. But the automatic escape tower fired perfectly. It yanked the capsule clear of the disintegrating rocket, deployed parachutes, and set it down safely. Total rocket failure. Perfect crew survival.

[00:00:55]In 2009, space shuttle Atlantis completed five back-to-back spacewalks and released an upgraded Hubble Space Telescope back into orbit. The telescope's final and most powerful servicing mission.

[00:01:08]Three events. One dead probe that still arrived. One catastrophic rocket that still proved the system worked. One telescope given a last chance.

[00:01:19]Sometimes failure is exactly the test.

[00:01:22]Subscribe.

[00:01:23]Tomorrow, the first American spacecraft to orbit Venus.