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Subscribe to RSSNorth Korea’s controversial rocket launch failed early Friday within 90 seconds of taking off.
It was an embarrassing set-back for North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong-un. But with all eyes on the reclusive country and the presence of foreign media, officials were forced to acknowledge the failure with a brief statement on state TV.
James Oberg, NBC News’s space expert and a 22-year NASA veteran, answered reader questions about the failed launch from Pyongyang earlier today.
Please click on the link below to read the chat.
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I had heard a report months back that an American scientist visited some of NK's nuclear facilities and found out that they were far more advanced than anyone had previously thought. Also, so have invited so much foreign press to stay in NK, they must have been sure of the missile's success. How can we/they explain its failure?
Well Liz, are we so sure that the launch was a failure? Okay, what the world witnessed was THAT rocket which the NK's launched failed but could this be a huge embarassment to the world instead of the NK's? While everyone was watching the rocket that was supposed to be THE one, another rocket is being readied for launch in private. That may explain the failure when in reality, the rest of the world was "punked."
Liz, no matter how sure you can be of a rocket's success, there's this little think called Murphy's Law which can come bite you in the butt at any time. Basically, N. Korea made a gamble with this launch thinking all the press attention would dissuade the world if the launch succeeded (given this is their 4th attempt) but it backfired and they lost their bet. Anything dealing with space, including rockets, takes a lot more than just 4 launch attempts to get it right and your workforce also has to have the right attitude about it (the N. Korean hierachical mindset prevents that).
@ubetcha - we're pretty sure of its failure as the pieces from the rocket are already being set to be recovered and you can probably find proof of it from NORAD. Either way, it would make no sense to have an unproven rocket go unlaunched and have it just sitting there, it's pretty easy for a lot of countries to notice any rockets that might get launched into orbit. Conspiracy theories of this sort really have no merit or sense to them.
ubetcha, are you under the impression that this 'other' rocket could somehow be test flown (over long range, now mind you) in secret? With all eyes already turned toward North Korea?
And this is as much a show, as anything else. They want to be seen to succeed. They want to be perceived as a credible threat. Otherwise, it's like the doomsday weapon in 'Dr. Strangelove.' If it works, the whole purpose of it is defeated, if you keep it secret.
They are just buying time to pretend they are not ready for a nuclear war, like Iran they are moving full speed developing their nukes. By that time it will be a different show, never under estimate your enemy.
So, with all of the reporters around, and all of the recent articles showing satellite images with a bird's eye view, and all of the world's eyes watching, why aren't there any photographs, a single frame of video, or any shred of proof whatsoever that this event ever even really took place?
it's kind of hard for reporters to catch video of a launch that's 90 miles away. satellites can't just hover over a target indefinitely. N. Korea never gave a launch time, they just let people know "we launched already". If you want more proof, there's also a nice debris field in the ocean you can go take a look at.
This is too funny. It would have shot down the second it left their airspace anyway, but the fact that it failed within 90 seconds of takeoff is hilarious.
I wouldn't trust JK-U. Maybe this rocket was a diversion and that the real rocket is hidden from view and they are just making the world think that this was a failure. I can't believe they would have taken a chance to launch an embarassment. IMO
And yet here they are, embarrassed...
The government of North Korea would rather it's people starve than to curb it's ambitions. It is following the lead of China who would rather foul it's air and water than invest into pollution controls. and don't forget the anti-suicide nets instead of improved working conditions.
I guess China and Russia didn't help North Korea very much with this one ....
Nor have they reason to.
Obama to North Korea: No soup for YOU!!!
The DPRK is the world's best example of vicious narcissism and closed-minded bigotry, but they are also themselves the single largest collection of conspiracy true believers. We don't need to join them in this. We don't need conspiratorial assumptions to understand or explain this new failure, we know they are paranoid, manipulative and untrustworthy. New conspiracy "hypertheses" (that's a deliberate choice of terminology to distinguish them from real hypotheses) just make Brian Moore's statement more applicable here: "... all of these conspiracy theories all depend on the perpetrators being endlessly clever. I think you'll find the facts also work if you assume everyone is endlessly stupid."
This "chat" was more about politics than it was about the rocket. How Lame!!!
What is really the failure here is how the press let the N.K lead them around like puppies on a leash.
I would bet the N.K had more to relay to the foriegn powers than just about this rocket. how do you get this type of attention, by breaking an agreement. This rocket business just does not add up.
don -3418190
"What is really the failure here is how the press let the N.K lead them around like puppies on a leash."
Do you think NK is a free country with a free press?
Does anyone realize the rocket did not fail and was actually shot down? C'mon people, most of you have heard of the X-37B and no doubt the ship does, in fact, carry passengers and does, in fact, have in operation a laser. This laser is capable of destroying any rocket without anyone noticing...I thought the people in the world were a bit brighter and here we go again with me having to remind everyone about the Web of Lies and opposite days game. Any thing you read is lies and every thing can be put in perspective using the opposite days game theory. Oh, here is where the space plane was at time of launch...Reports say that the X-37B, a system controlled space plane sent by the U.S. air force in the orbit was supposed to keep a check on the activities done at the newly built space station in China. But there are no confirmations or statements about its purpose or mission in the space from the Pentagon.
cmon now, lets sing all sing a little song to cheer em up...up in smoke, that's were my money goes....
The x-37b was not involved. The failure point was obvious and quite structural in nature, yes china has been helping them to some degree, note the profiles of it and various chinese rockets...and yes, their design is advanced, surely more than otraags...remember them? thier icbm was around ten grand and the skin was made from good ole corrugated roofing metal.....lobbing hot rocks around is both easy and hard.....lighting a large tank of oxidizing fuel and not having it go boom, hard and much harder. I feel sorry for them, if they were really serious about science for the sake of science they could do well to capitualte and cooperate, sadly, they wish to deny and hate. They will discover where they need to change the strutual supports and have an aha moment on the purpose of vibration dampning, lucky us they can't just google the answer. Heck, I am a fair man, they could take their chances with bing or yahoo....
Donde todos es mi rey
There are no signs
Que dice no fumer
So I roll un "bomber"
Y me doy, un buen toke-ay
Y despues I choke
Y todos mis cares
Go up in smoke
(all in fun, no intl incidents please).
So whats next? do you think the little pervert will give up! his speech says otherwise, all that talk of victory, all the North is doing is buying time till they have enough power to renew their conquest of the South. the Korean war never ended, in their mind its still going on. this truly is a sick society, they need to be dealt with before they become a more dangerous foe, we should never help the north with anything till the north puts its agenda aside. they are a never ending burden on the US, China is spending billions in the Caribbean but near nothing on their neighbor, why do you think that is. we spend billions on keeping a eye on NK while the Chinese walk into the Dominican Republic, and Panama in central America, the Chinese are right off our coast and most people don't even know it, what is the big picture we waste to much on Korea and the Chinese are lining up their ducks, somebody better wise up. when we finally get into a position where we have no choice but to deal with them it will be to late, things will be out of control.
"Korean State TV," what a crock. They have maybe twenty people with tube TVs.