15 Flight Test Failures from Aircrafts, Rockets and Satellites

Here, we examine the failures that occur during test fligths before the system goes into production or is ready for its maiden voyage – be it in the air or space. Other articles have covered disasters during actual missions (like Apollo 13) which weren’t test flights. Still, even such operational failures are ultimately due to a lack of test flights or maintenance issues – such as in the case the Apollo 13 failure.

John Blyler is a Design News senior editor, covering the electronics and advanced manufacturing spaces. With a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering, he has years of hardware-software-network systems experience as an editor and engineer within the advanced manufacturing, IoT and semiconductor industries. John has co-authored books related to system engineering and electronics for IEEE, Wiley, and Elsevier.