Rocket’s red glare: Five spectacular (but harmless) US space launch failures

Tuesday's Proton-M rocket explosion on the steppes of Kazakhstan is definitely not the first time an unmanned rocket has exploded at launch, and it won't be the last. As good as the various space agencies have become at launching rockets, it should never be forgotten that the vehicles we lob into space are fragile things, perched carefully atop what is essentially an enormous, carefully-managed continuous explosion. Launch vehicles are extremely complex machines, requiring the careful balance of a multitude of different forces, including constantly shifting mechanical and aerodynamic loads.

Space launch isn't (and perhaps never will be) a routine happening, but over the past sixty years or so we've become good enough at it that things go right far more often than they go wrong. Still, rockets remain fuel-filled tubes, and when they blow up, they tend to blow up real good.

As Americans today set off fireworks and watch Independence Day to celebrate our Independence day, Ars invites you to sit back and take a gander at these five rocket launches gone colossally bad. But take heart: for all their fire and thunder and billions of dollars gone up in smoke, none of the mishaps below resulted in any injuries. Though, man, I'd hate to have had to don a hot suit and mop up after any of them.