Super Strypi rocket launch fails in Hawaii

The Super Strypi rocket, the first space launch from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range in Kauai, Hawaii, failed shortly after takeoff, the U.S. Air Force confirmed.

The 55-foot rocket was launched to test the new lightweight satellite booster as part of the U.S. Air Force's ORS-4 mission, managed by the Operationally Responsive Space division, which aims to reduce the cost of space missions. ORS-4 aimed to reduce the cost of transporting small satellites to low-Earth orbit. During the demonstration, 13 satellites were held inside the rocket's nose cone.

Video shot near the launch site showed the rocket breaking up during flight.

"The ORS-4 mission on an experimental Super Strypi launch vehicle failed in mid-flight shortly after liftoff at 5:45 p.m.," the Air Force said in a statement.

The rocket, based on a Cold War-era suborbital sounding rocket, was developed by Sandia National Laboratories, Aerojet Rocketdyne and the University of Hawaii. The Air Force spent over $45 million on the mission's development, according to SpaceFlight Now.

The rocket disintegrated approximately one minute after launch. Despite this, academics involved in the program hailed the launch as a success.

"Despite what happened today, this is a tremendous success for the University of Hawaii," UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl told Hawaii News Now. "We had about 150 students work on this program. They built a satellite. It met every milestone. It passed every test and they delivered it on time."