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General Discussion / Re: Skylab launch video and animation
« Last post by bknight on March 16, 2024, 11:50:13 AM »When the micrometeoroid shield and other structures detached from the payload during ascent, they damaged the linear shaped charge used to separate the interstage. The damage created a discontinuity in the explosive material. Because only one detonator was provided, the charge only progressed as far as the discontinuity. Ordinarily it would race all the way around the vehicle in a tiny fraction of a second. For this reason, any time these days we use the same separation method, we provide a detonator at each end of the charge. But more often we use mechanical designs that require only one small detonator that fails the mechanical attachment uniformly.Did they ever determine why the shield detached?