For those who have been following this issue of rockets over the Grand Banks, here's a quick calculation of the space shuttle launches that have overflown the Grand Banks on the way to orbit.
That is, here are the numbers for the launches on an inclination between 51 degrees and 57 degrees.
It's 54. That includes every single one of the launches from 1981 until the Texas crash as well as the first one due in a couple of months, out to the ones on the planning books that haven't been finalized yet.
1. That's 54 out of 118 (by my count) or a total of 45.7%. Almost half the shuttle launches fly over the Grand Banks on launch. I am not including Titan, Atlas and Delta launches nor am I including any strictly military/naval ICBM or SLBM flights although I believe the latter ones tend to come from Vandenberg these days.
2. Number of incidents on launch in which the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure: 1. The debris and the remains of the unfortunate crew landed in waters of Florida.
3. Number of catastrophic failures on re-entry: 1. Debris landed from California to eastern Texas.
4. Number of human casualties on the ground resulting from shuttle losses, excluding crew: ZERO.
Again, I am amazed that this information is in the public domain and yet people have been hopping up and down like this launch was the first one ever.
