Comments
Motor was assembled according to manufacturer instructions using a 6grain case and 1 spacer for the 5 grain motor reload. The motor had barely begun to fire when it failed and ejected the nosecone and recovery gear. A substantial hole was blown through the fire blanket and the parachute was melted. Rocket had enough momentum to clear the rail and landed a few feet away. Motor continued to burn bright red flames forward instead of aft for several seconds before a fire response could arrive to attempt to extinguish it.
When we performed a forensic disassembly, the aft closure was completely separated from the rest of the reload, and the ejection assembly was completely absent. (This also happened on my son's L2 certification attempt, which made it doubly painful). Spacer was welded to forward end of the casing and cannot be removed.
Every seasoned rocketeer at the launch commented that it was by far the most spectacular and catastrophic CATO they'd ever seen.
We have several more pictures of the disassembly process, if you want them.
