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Houston, We Has A Problemo: Morpheus Lunar Lander Test Ends With Crash And Burn, Eventual Explosion

August 10, 2012 / crash and burn, houston we need a fire extinguisher, mars rover: 1 new moon lander: -1, moon, nasa, nothing to see here!, oopsie, something went wrong, thank god i didn't volunteer to sit on top of the thing like i was planning amirite?, that made me sad, was it supposed to do that?, woopsie doopsie

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Seen here after things took a turn for the worse (worst?), NASA's new Morpheus Lander ends its life on a test launchpad. Things start off smooth enough (it goes up), but then it falls on its side and catches fire. Worthwhile explosion at 1:52 and 2:12. Some more info so you can impress a date and, I dunno, maybe score a kiss:

As streamed live by NASA, on 8/9/2012 at the Kennedy Space Center, the Project Morpheus lander attempted its first free-flight test. However shortly into the test a hardware component failure caused the craft to flip over and crash down in flames, followed by several explosions.


Project Morpheus is a prototype "green" lander that is relatively inexpensive and more fuel efficient than previous lander designs. Project Morpheus has cost $7 million over 2.5 years, inexpensive for a NASA project, due to "lean development" practices.

Listen NASA, I'm all for doing things inexpensively, but if your new ,cheap lunar landers just crash and explode they're like, not that good of a deal, you know? Imagine you're at Best Buy and they're selling 55" flatscreens for $150. You buy one, but when you get it home, it doesn't turn on. Now how good of a deal was it? Food for thought.

Hit the jump for the sadness. Boom-booms at 1:52 and 2:12.

Thanks to Ferrous, who actually gives a damn about space and I like that.

There are Comments
  • jimmy

    Well at least since there's no air on the moon it won't burn as much...

  • Dirgible

    Hey I like how the NASA lady says "Call 911" at about 0:18. You think they would at least have one fire truck nearby or something. Oh ya..7 million, definately got a winner. I like the whimpering part, ya think robots of the future will make that sound when THEY get lit on fire? I hope so. Yep, definately would have had a fire truck nearby. You know you have a problem when the smoke cloud creates an impending shadow. For some reason I feel like 'que-in' something up ;)

  • it has obvious military purpose - it can fly somewhere and explode TWO times !!

  • best 7 million dollar firework ever!

  • EDWARD J. SMITH

    NASA should be putting all their money in the space elevator and the plasma engine.

  • BillGatesIsYourDaddy

    they should be putting all their money into sending me to the moon...I would go for free just so I can make some stupid tweet about where I was at then take an instagram of the earth.

  • "Oh, right... Earth's gravity is 6 times that of the Moon's..."

  • Up until 0:05 it was looking pretty awesome.

  • Yeah then at 1:52 and 2:12 it got even awesomerer

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