User:Sir Jazer 13/NOAA-B

NOAA-B (somehow should have been NOAA-7) was a failed mission and a destroyed satellite that was launched in May 29, 1980. It became space debris. It was considered a failure because of its very elliptical orbit.

Launch Problems
Atlas sustainer engine under-thrust resulted in 50 second extended burn time, and spacecraft attempted to separate and fired apogee kick motor while booster was still thrusting.  Unusable orbit; would have been NOAA 7. At engine start up, one of the booster engines suffered an internal fuel leak, causing it to run at about 80% thrust. As a result the booster was low on velocity and heavy on propellant over much of its flight and ran an incredible 50 seconds longer than the nominal burn. The NOAA Advanced TIROS payload was designed with no direct communication with the booster, and unaware of the booster problem, at 375 sec after liftoff attempted to separate with the booster still firing. The booster's continued thrusting defeated the payload's attempt to perform the required pitch maneuver. When the payload fired its apogee kick motor, it blew the top of the booster's liquid oxygen tank off. The spacecraft survived all this, but the resultant orbit was highly elliptical rather than the desired circular sun-synchronous. The mission was a total loss. Officially: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication.