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On November 4, 2015, the United States Air Force planned to launch an experimental rocket for small satellites.

‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com

The launch didn't according to plan. For this mission, the Air Force was testing out the Super Strypi rocket. The rocket used a rail to help with the lift-off. Super Strypi left the ground, but the rocket quickly spun out of control. When it crashed, it destroyed all of the tiny satellites riding along the rocket. The cause? Likely a problem with the first stage motor. The mission lost 13 tiny satellites known as cubesats. Cubesats are a popular option for space missions, because they are small and cheap, and they often operate in swarms. After failing to launch this batch of cubesats, the Super Strypi program never recovered from its failure, and the Air Force never tried launching another one.

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Transcript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03On November 4, 2015, the United States Air Force planned to launch an experimental rocket for small satellites.
00:10The launch didn't go according to plan.
00:12For this mission, the Air Force was testing out the Super Stripey rocket.
00:16The rocket used a rail to help with the liftoff.
00:19Super Stripey left the ground, but the rocket quickly spun out of control.
00:23When it crashed, it destroyed all of the tiny satellites riding on the rocket.
00:27The cause? Likely a problem with the first stage motor.
00:31The mission lost 13 tiny satellites known as CubeSats.
00:34CubeSats are a popular option for space missions because they are small and cheap, and they often operate in swarms.
00:40After failing to launch this batch of CubeSats, the Super Stripey program never recovered from its failure,
00:45and the Air Force never tried launching another one.
00:48And that's what happened on this day in space.

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