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Brazil's first space rocket falls into sea
November 3, 1997
Web posted at: 2:17 p.m. EST (1917 GMT)ALCANTARA, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazil's first attempt to launch a rocket into space lasted just 65 seconds on Sunday. One of the rocket's four engines failed to ignite, and controllers decided to destroy the rocket.
"With the loss of that engine, we lost control of the rocket, and for security reasons we decided to destroy it " said Col. Thiago da Silva Ribeiro of the Brazilian Space Agency. "All parts of the rocket fell into a secure area, into the ocean, about two kilometers from the launch pad."
The launch, broadcast live over national television, appeared to go without a hitch, but the rocket was visible only for a few seconds before disappearing into clouds. Officials said it was 9,700 feet high when they decided to destroy it.
15 years in development
Brazil has spent 15 years developing its own rocket, called the Satellite Launching Vehicle (VLS). The rocket was to carry a locally built surveying satellite into orbit, where it would collect information on agriculture and the environment.
CNN's Marina Mirabella describes the launch:
2.9M/13 sec. QuickTime movie
Brazil's first satellite was launched outside the country four years ago by an American-made Pegasus rocket. In contrast to the Pegasus' $15 million price tag, each of Brazil's VLS-1 rockets costs a bargain $6.5 million.
The launch was originally scheduled for October 26, but the agency had to call it off after finding problems in a land-based radar system.
Geographical advantage
Brazil hopes one day to tap the lucrative satellite-launching market.
It has a geographical advantage over more seasoned satellite-launching nations, such as the United States, Russia, China and France. Since its Alcantara base is close to the equator, rockets launched there can use the inertia produced by Earth's rotation to reduce the amount of fuel needed to boost rockets into orbit.
Brazilian space officials tried to put a bright face on the setback, which they said was minor.
"This was not at all a failure. We will learn a lot from it," said Santos, who was watching the launch from one of the Space Agency's control centers in Sao Jose dos Campos in the state of Sao Paulo.
Santos said Brazil will go ahead with scheduled launches in each of the next three years.
Brazil Space Agency president Luiz Gilvan Meira Filho also expressed confidence in the agency's eventual success. "This is a complicated process and problems are inevitable," he said. "We will study what went wrong and try again."
Rio de Janeiro Bureau Chief Marina Mirabella and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related site:
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- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - official site of the Brazilian Space Agency
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