
Failure To Launch
This is a podcast about all the mistakes, failures, and explosions that made space exploration possible.
Latest episodes

Oct 24, 2022 • 1h 26min
Part 1: Vanguard - America's Failed Answer to Sputnik
Project Vanguard, the US Navy's plan to put a satellite in orbit, isn't one of those space stories that's well-remembered and with good reason - it was a historic failure and a national embarrassment. Needless to say, we were interested. In this episode, America tries to beat the Soviets to orbit with three (3) competing space programs, Navy engineers discover possibly the most dangerous chemicals on the planet, and an unfinished, untested, underfunded, and mismanaged rocket is forced to perform "the wettest dry run in history".
P.S. Thank you to Sarah from the It Came From The Sea podcast for the intro (the annoyed tone is intentional and hopefully not directed at us)
Sources:
Red Moon Rising, Matthew Brzezinski
Ignition, John D. Clark
Vanguard: A History, NASA

Oct 6, 2022 • 1h 31min
Gerhard Zucker and His Killer Mail Rocket
In this episode, we take a look into the idea of delivering mail by rocket. It's a story of colonialism, Nazis, scammers, stamp collectors, and possibly the dumbest/coolest conman of all time.

Sep 13, 2022 • 43min
French Cyborg Space Cats
Most people know about Laika the space dog or ham the astrochimp. What most people don't know about are the cyberpunk animals of the French Space Program. This episode, we explore CERMA, the Hammaguir launch site, and the various endangered animals France launched into space.
Show Notes:
Start of "Soviet September", where Quinn is banned from talking about the USSR or their space program for the next four (4) episodes, inclusive.
Sources:
Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle, Colin Burgess, 2007

Sep 7, 2022 • 52min
The History of Space Guns
The Soviets came up with some truly innovative ways to protect their cosmonauts and space stations. This episode, we dig through a layer of Cold War secrecy and cover-ups to bring you the history of space guns. From cosmonaut Alexei Leonov taking on a wolfpack with a 1.5lb handgun to the Space Shuttle kicking off a wave of stupid Soviet space weapons.

Aug 29, 2022 • 1h 37min
Part 2: Cosmos 954 - Operation Morning Light (or How Not To Handle A Nuclear Disaster)
Part 2 of our 2 part series. In 1978, a Soviet spy satellite carrying weapons-grade uranium slammed into Canada's Northwest Territories. This episode, we talk about the scientists, soldiers, and psychics who signed on with Operation Morning Light to clean up the mess and why they failed.
Content Warning: As with most things involving the Canadian government's treatment of First Nations people, a fair amount of racism.
Sources:
Leo Heaps, Operation Morning Light: Terror in Our Skies : the True Story of Cosmos 954
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/RORSAT/RORSAT.html#References
https://web.archive.org/web/20110929125210/http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gamma/ml_e.php

Jul 31, 2022 • 1h 4min
Part 1: Cosmos 954 - Raining Radiation on Canada's Arctic
This series, we are doing a deep dive on Cosmos 954, the Soviet spy satellite carrying a nuclear reactor that deorbited and crashed into Canada's Northwest Territories. In Part 1, we focus on the satellite itself, how it failed, and how a little-known American government agency stepped up to tackle a nuclear disaster. Topics covered include:
- Why the Soviets loaded a spy satellite with weapons-grade uranium
- The horrible "failsafes" they designed into their satellites
- How a nuclear prank in Boston scared the US into taking accidents seriously
- How all of this is (tangentially) Korolev and Khrushchev's fault

Jul 19, 2022 • 1h 6min
Sputnik 2, Laika, and the Soviet Space Dog Program
This episode, we take a look at the history of Sputnik 2 as well as the the Soviet answer to Project Albert: the Canine Cosmonaut program.
Topics covered include:
- How Korolev designed, built, and launched a satellite in less than a month.
- Why the Soviets only picked stray female mutts to fly on their rockets.
- Why there was no reason for Laika to die except Khrushchev's ego.
Show Notes:
Red Moon Rising by Matthew Brzezinski
Animals in Space by Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs

Jul 8, 2022 • 36min
Part Three: The First (and Worst) Satellite - Sputnik Panic
This episode, we finish our three-part series on Sputnik 1 and the people, politics, and egos that launched the Space Race. Topics covered include:
- The decisions that made Sputnik 1 the perfect propaganda tool and worthless as a scientific instrument
- Khrushchev chopping up the Red Army and purging its top general
- How media and politicians in the West fanned the flames of Sputnik Panic
- How a beeping ball made the Soviet Union into a true superpower

Jun 17, 2022 • 55min
Part 2: The First (And Worst) Satellite
In this episode, we continue our investigation into Sputnik 1, its troubled development, and the politics that went into world's first satellite. Topics covered include:
- Khrushchev being so sold on rockets he slashes the Red Army by a third
- Rival engineers who got each other sent to the gulag
- Building a rocket site in the most inhospitable place on Earth
- Two revolutions, one coup d'état, and the least-bloody purge in Soviet history

Jun 3, 2022 • 58min
Propaganda & The Cult of Yuri Gagarin
Back from an extended hiatus, we take a look at the cult that developed around Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Topics covered include:
- Gagarin's folk tale-worthy landing and the subsequent cover-up
- Gagarin's father being demoted to his uncle by state propaganda
- Yuri's unlikely role as the first Soviet sex symbol
- How the Kremlin exploited (and continues to exploit) Gagarin's legacy
Show Notes
Suggestion & Question Email: LaunchFailurePodcast@gmail.com
Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/launch_failure
Episode Notes
Source for Gagarin Cult History: The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling: The Life and Legend of Yuri Gagarin by Andrew L. Jenks, 2012
Source for Propaganda Posters: https://russiatrek.org/blog/art/propaganda-posters-of-soviet-space-program-1958-1963/
Source for Putin Quotes: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68180