|
#1
●
03-22-2013, 03:19 AM
| ||||||||
 My Rank: PRIVATE Poster Rank:12348 Male Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 9 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 0 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
The Nedelin Disaster
On October 23, 1960, the Soviet Union was performing tests on their first ICBM missile, the R-16. 250 people were crowded around the rocket preparing for its launch the next day. The rocket used hypergolic chemicals, which ignite upon contact with one another, as fuel. They were highly corrosive and toxic when burnt. After the rocket was fueled, it could be drained, but never launched. So when problems arose, Marshall of Artillery Mitrofan Nedelin refused to drain the rocket and demand that the problems be resolved on-site of the live missile. The USSR had pretty shit safety procedures then and subordinates didn't have the ability to challenge superiors. Basically as more and more problems arose, Nedelin got pissed and pressured them more. The R-16 rocket was a 2 stage rocket, meaning it had two stages of engines, the first stage on bottom, and when that burnt out a second stage above. One switch in the control center had been left in a post-launch position from earlier testing, and so when a technician reset its position, it crossed a point which released the hypergolic chemicals in the second stage engine. The second stage ignited on top of the first stage, and the whole fucking thing blew up. Nedelin himself was sitting on a chair about 50 feet from the rocket. Cameras weren't filming, but once the rocket exploded they automatically began. If the people weren't incinerated by the rocket, they either burned to death or suffocated on the toxic fumes. About 100 people died. Even though it happened in 1960, most of the Soviet government didn't know until 1989. The first 5 seconds of this video is fake but the rest is real. |
|
#2
●
03-22-2013, 04:55 AM
| ||||||||
 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:61 Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 25,020
Contributions: 1
Mentioned: 29 Post(s) Quoted: 3456 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
Re: The Nedelin Disaster
that would have sucked trying to run from all that shit if you managed to keep all your limbs from the initial blast. Not to mention the searing heat that continuously stays ablaze... Fact: . Burning to death is the worste way to go.. You feel it everywhere.. You see it, you breath it, you are fucked no matter what you do.. And if you survive.. your life will be a shitty one with all the skin graph surgeries that you will have to do just to maintain a normal life. |
|
#3
●
03-22-2013, 06:31 AM
| ||||||||
 My Rank: FIRST SERGEANT Poster Rank:417 Male Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 2,771
Contributions: 30
Mentioned: 6 Post(s) Quoted: 386 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
Re: The Nedelin Disaster
Well, at least the idiot Nedelin that caused it went with it, he must have if he was sitting just 50 feet away.
|
|
#7
●
03-22-2013, 04:03 PM
| ||||||||
 My Rank: FIRST SERGEANT Poster Rank:442 yes Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2,552 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 51 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
Re: The Nedelin Disaster
Graeat vid. That's how you did things in the 60's and before. How many cannons, rifles, even bow and arrow techniques failed before we got it right   |
|
#8
●
03-22-2013, 04:04 PM
| ||||||||
 My Rank: GUNNERY SERGEANT Poster Rank:619 Male Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 1,452 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 71 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
Re: The Nedelin Disaster
Never play with matches, teach that to your kids  |
