5 Rocket Launches That Went Horribly Wrong

Challenger Space Shuttle (1986) – The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster was one of the most shocking events in the history of space exploration. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but disintegrated 73 seconds later, killing all seven crew members on board.

N1 Rocket (1969-1972) – The Soviet Union’s attempt to build a moon rocket, the N1, suffered a series of catastrophic failures during its four launch attempts from 1969 to 1972. The most devastating of these occurred on July 3, 1969, when the rocket exploded just 12 seconds after liftoff, destroying the launch pad and killing several engineers and technicians.

VSS Enterprise (2014) – The VSS Enterprise was a suborbital spaceplane being developed by Virgin Galactic as part of their commercial space tourism program. On October 31, 2014, during a test flight, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup, killing one of the two pilots and seriously injuring the other.

Long March 3B (1996) – The Long March 3B is a Chinese rocket that suffered a major failure during its maiden flight on February 14, 1996. The rocket veered off course shortly after liftoff and crashed into a village, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more.

Titan II Missile (1980) – The Titan II missile was a United States Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile that suffered a catastrophic explosion during a routine maintenance operation on September 19, 1980. The explosion killed one airman and destroyed the missile silo.