On May 11, 1963, an Atlas rocket with an Agena D upper stage was being filled with fuel on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base. During fueling, a gas bubble developed in the propellant fill and drain system for the rocket. This created a hydraulic ram effect that shook loose the connection inside the vehicle where liquid oxygen flowed into the Atlas. The launch pad crew, hunkered down in the blockhouse, drained all of the liquid oxygen in the upper tank. But with the Agena D upper stage on top of it, there was pressure from above on the tank. The tank buckled and the Agena fell over, pivoting down and hitting the ground. The lower half of the Atlas was filled with kerosene (RP-1, for "rocket propellant") which sprayed out in a flood onto the pad. By great luck, the propellant did not burst into flame, although somebody in the blockhouse must have hit a fire suppression system, because water sprayed out onto the pad area immediately after the collapse. This was released on a tape in 1989.
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