catastrophe

On Friday evening at the Brazilian Alcantara cosmodrome, during the pre-launch preparation of the Brazilian VLS-1 launch vehicle, it exploded. 21 people died. The Alcantara tragedy delayed Brazil's entry into space indefinitely.
The VLS-1 rocket was developed back in the late 80s by the Institute of Aviation and Space, commissioned by the Brazilian Space Agency and with the participation of laboratories of the Brazilian Ministry of Defense. The basis for the development was the Sonda-4 solid-fuel high-altitude rocket: four VLS-1 launch boosters, as well as its first and second stages, were manufactured on its basis. The new third stage also runs on solid fuel. VLS-1 has a height of 19.5 m, a launch weight of about 50 tons. The rocket is capable of launching light satellites with a total mass of up to 350 kg into low Earth orbit.
This was the third attempt to launch VLS-1. On November 2, 1997, during the first launch with the experimental satellite SCD-2A, one of the four launch boosters did not launch. The rocket, listing heavily, was only able to rise slightly above the launcher. After 65 seconds of flight it was blown up. On December 11, 1999, during the second launch, the second stage engine did not start. The rocket had to be blown up 200 seconds after launch. At the same time, the scientific satellite SACI-2 was destroyed.
Brazilian specialists spent four years after the previous failure on additional missile tests. This time it was planned that VLS-1 would launch two small satellites into orbit. The launch was scheduled for August 25. In the middle of last week, about 700 specialists from the Alcantara spaceport began the last stage of rocket testing.
On Friday at about 20.30 Moscow time, when all the tests were almost completed, a disaster occurred. According to preliminary data, one of the four launch boosters unexpectedly launched, which led to a subsequent explosion of the entire rocket and a fire at the launch complex. According to Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Viegas, "due to the explosion, the rocket and the service tower surrounding it collapsed. Nothing was destroyed outside the launch pad." The temperature of the flame was so high that even the structures of the launch complex melted.
At the time of the disaster, several dozen people were working on the 36-meter service tower that spans the entire rocket and at its base. The Brazilian Space Agency said 21 people were killed and more than 20 were injured or burned. According to a statement from a cosmodrome employee, Major Gustavo Kruger of the Brazilian Air Force, “the process of identifying the dead is very difficult because the bodies are terribly charred.” In addition, according to the Brazilian Minister of Defense, a number of cosmodrome employees were poisoned by combustion products of rocket fuel.
In connection with the Alcantara disaster, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a one-day national mourning on August 23. In the state of Maranhão, where the spaceport is located, mourning will last three days. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the President of Brazil.
Apparently, the Alcantara disaster will long delay Brazil's launch of its satellite using its own launch vehicle. Experts from the Brazilian Space Agency do not exclude the possibility that the design of the entire VLS-1 rocket will have to be seriously changed, or attempts to launch it will have to be abandoned altogether and efforts will have to be concentrated on creating a heavier, improved version of the VLS-2 rocket. In his statement, José Viegas stressed that "Brazil will continue to implement its space program, despite the rocket explosion." “I pay tribute to the technicians who gave their lives for the development of Brazil. We will continue the program so that their deaths are not in vain,” the minister said.
KONSTANTIN J-LANTRATOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 151/P dated August 25, 2003, p. 11

Authors:

Konstantin Lantratov

Brazilian rocket exploded at launch