Comments
After a nominal ignition and liftoff, the motor blew out the forward bulkhead about one second into flight. The Pro54-6GXL rolled forward end was blown open and the forward bulkhead was recovered intact. Two large unburned pieces of the monolithic fuel grain were also recovered. A licensed pyrotechnics operator on site inspected the grain pieces and believes the grain separated from the casting tube due to thermal cycling, leading to an over-pressure. Photos of the recovered components are available.