FW: Delta tank hits Texas intact

Jeff Hunt (jhunt@eagle1.eaglenet.com)
Tue, 25 Feb 97 14:39:52

Remember late January '97 and the SeeSat-L posts regarding the Delta II 2nd 
stage reentry in Texas? 
Rob Landis forwarded this on to me.  I would appear "someone" has finally 
"fessed up" to its origin. 
For those that might not know, you can find SeeSat-L archived posts at 
http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/sat/seesat/hyper/  
(This forwarded post was heavily edited to remove an unrelated news 
account.)
-Jeff Hunt <jhunt@eagle1.eaglenet.com>

--- On Tue, 25 Feb 97 10:10:00 EST  "Landis, Rob" <landisr@anser.org> 
wrote:
>My apologies if you've alrady seen this.  worth a read..
>Rob.
> ----------
>>From: Sloan, John
>>To: Facktor, Debra; Landis, Rob; Tahu, George; Turner, Ron; Wilson, Jim; 
>>SAD 
>> - Space Analysis Div
>>Subject: Delta tank hits Texas intact
>>Date: Monday, February 24, 1997 1:01PM
>>
>>Some news:
>>
>>Pieces of a second stage tank from a Delta 2 rocket crashed intact 
>>into a Texas field on January 22, 1997. The largest remains of the tank 
>>found, measuring, 2.7 meters by 2.1 m tank was made of stainless steel. 
>>The Delta 2  was launched from Vandenberg on April 24, 1996. The tank 
>>impacted at 3am waking residents near Georgetown, Texas (just north of 
>>Austin), and landed 45 meters from a house and 135 meters from Highway 
>>29. A titanium sphere used to hold gas that forces propellant into the 
>>2nd stage engine was recoverd to the south in Seguin, Texas (east of San 
>>Antonio). Pundits are puzzled as to why the tank did not break up in the 
>>atmosphere, believed to be the first to reenter in history of Delta s 227 
>>launches. Nick Johnson wondered if this happens more frequently than 
>>believed and if stainless steel can survive reentry. The tank piece is so 
>>heavy, Johnson said, that "[w]e had four guys at the site. We couldn t 
>>even roll it over." The Delta 2 
>>launched MSX, a BMDO/science payload. [For two photos, see page 4, Space 
>>news Feb 24, 1997]
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