Rocket Launch
Rocket Launch
[The major stages of a rocket launch are shown, with the rocket trajectory indicated by dotted lines. Each stage is annotated with a description and an arrow. A title above the image reads 'Outline of a typical rocket launch'.]
[A rocket with two boosters is shown at the bottom left hand corner of the image taking off from a launch pad on the ground, surrounded by clouds of smoke.] Liftoff
[The rocket ascends vertically] Max-Q: Peak aerodynamic stress
[Separation of the two external booster rockets is shown, with the main rocket continuing to ascend vertically with a slight rightward tilt and the two boosters curving off to the right.] Booster separation
[The main rocket stage starts to curve over to the right.] Max-CB: Highest chance of collision with care bears
[Separation of the second rocket stage. Main rocket heads right, whilst second booster stage curves downward to meet trajectory of first booster stages.] Main stage separation
[Main rocket continues towards the right.] GPS silenced so it will stop saying "make a U-turn"
[First and second stage booster rocket trajectories meet and become a single trajectory heading upwards and right.] Reunification
[Trajectory of main rocket wobbles slightly.] Pilot panics, copilot takes command after struggle
[Booster stage rockets continue to head upwards and right towards the main rocket trajectory.] Pursuit phase
[Main rocket and booster stage trajectories meet and cross three times.] Inter-stage dogfight
[The trajectory for one of the stages ends in an explosion.]
[The remaining trajectory, indicated with dashed-lines and question marks, continues towards the right and off the edge of the page.] Winner proceeds to space


This comic was posted on a week with a notably high number of rocket launches .  Originally, there were to be four orbital rocket launches from the United States on December 19, 2018 (the publish date for the comic), which would have tied with the prior record for number of orbital rocket launches in one day.  While these launches were ultimately delayed, breaking the event, the comic was doubtless under production by then.
Only some of the steps listed are actually typical.
Liftoff The traditional start of a launch, when the rocket leaves the ground.  The engines will typically have been ignited a short time before, often one-by-one in a specifically engineered sequence to reduce shock stress on the rocket, but need to throttle up to produce enough thrust to overcome the rocket's weight.  Some launch pad configurations physically restrain the rocket (at least to some degree) until the engines are known to produce the required thrust then the rocket is released (e.g. by pyrotechnically crushing restraining bolts such as in NASA Space Shuttle configuration, or by hydraulic actuators opening a sturdy "clamp", such as in SpaceX Falcon 9 configuration).  "Liftoff" refers to the moment this happens, making the rocket lift off the ground. Max-Q : Peak aerodynamic stress. A rocket accelerates from the moment it leaves the ground.  The faster a rocket goes, the bigger volume of air it pushes through per second - but the higher a rocket goes, the thinner the air.  (Before liftoff, the rocket is not moving, and thus is not pushing through air.  Once in orbit, there is essentially no air to push through, so the rocket is not pushing through air.  Between those two times, the rocket is pushing through some amount of air, the exact amount increasing before Max Q and decreasing after Max Q.)  "Max Q" is the moment where these two factors produce a maximum, and is the point where the rocket's structure must withstand the most air pushing back against it. Booster separation Rockets are designed in stages , so they do not have to carry the empty fuel tanks all the way to orbit.  (Carrying any mass to orbit is expensive, so the more that can be dropped off earlier, the better.) Two or three stages are typical.  "Booster separation" marks the point where the first of these stages (the " booster "), its fuel expended, is typically ejected. Max-CB: Highest chance of collision with Care Bears . This is entirely fictitious.  Care Bears are fictitious characters, which have a toy line, television series, and movies.  The existence of a basketball sneaker named the "Nike Air Force Max CB" may or may not be relevant. Main stage separation See "booster separation" above.  This marks the point where the second stage (the "main stage") is ejected. GPS silenced so it will stop saying "Make a U-turn" Again, this is fictional.  While some rockets do make use of signals from the Global Positioning System ("GPS"), no rockets are known to use the navigational devices that incorporate GPS readers and street maps, providing directions - often with optional text-to-speech - along the Earth's surface.  Some such devices are notorious for getting confused in extreme situations (such as the high Mach numbers that rockets achieve); constantly uttering "make a U-turn" would be one such confusion, and any device in such a confused state might well be silenced for being more annoying than helpful.  Navigation of this nature is neither necessary nor useful on a rocket, which will have its entire route from ground to orbit computed before launch, and piloting typically left entirely to computers given the precise timing required. Reunification (of boosters) Another fictional step.  Discarded stages fall back into the Earth's atmosphere, either hitting the ground (or, more often, water) or burning up because of the heat-up resulting from high compression of air in front of them while re-entering thick layers of atmosphere at extreme speed.  The booster and main stage would not be on a course to come anywhere near each other, and would not have enough fuel to change their course (running out of fuel being why they were discarded in the first place).  Even if they did, landing for reuse (as SpaceX has attempted , often successfully) would be far more likely than a mid-air reunion. Pilot panics, copilot takes command after struggle Another fictional step.  Astronauts are not the sort of people who panic easily, nor struggle with their crewmates.  More importantly, in any modern rocket the "pilot" is not a human being, but a computer incapable of panic [ citation needed ] (as in the human emotion).  It is possible that part of the flight computer could fail, causing redundant failsafes to take over, but the process could not correctly be described as a "struggle", and in any case this sort of failure is uncommon enough that it is not part of a "typical" rocket launch. Pursuit phase Fictional.  This assumes the (nonexistent) reunified booster would have enough fuel to pursue the top stage of the rocket, and a reason to do so.  See "Reunification".  This might be a reference to Pursuit guidance . The comic indicates that a fight ensues with only one of the pair continuing to orbit. Inter-stage dogfight Fictional.  See "Pursuit phase".  A dogfight is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft, conducted at close range.  This step claims that the rocket booster and the top stage of the rocket engage in a battle. Winner proceeds to space Fictional.  As noted above, in a real rocket launch there is no dogfight of which there can be a "winner". A careful reading would note that the bottom stage "wins" by default; in contrast, in a real (orbital) rocket launch, the top stage typically proceeds to space.
The title text refers once again to the Care Bears franchise. The Care Bears live in a castle made of clouds, called Care-a-Lot Castle , so the comic claims that NASA aims to avoid launching into their castle, but sometimes cannot avoid hitting "stray" Care Bears. That being said, the point about the strike has a basis in truth; at the speeds a rocket moves, impact with something roughly the size and weight of a human (or a Care Bear) has the potential to be catastrophic. If something should threaten to connect with the rocket, the best that the humans involved can do is hope for a glancing blow with a part of the rocket sturdy enough to endure the impact.
[The major stages of a rocket launch are shown, with the rocket trajectory indicated by dotted lines. Each stage is annotated with a description and an arrow. A title above the image reads 'Outline of a typical rocket launch'.]
[A rocket with two boosters is shown at the bottom left hand corner of the image taking off from a launch pad on the ground, surrounded by clouds of smoke.] Liftoff
[The rocket ascends vertically] Max-Q: Peak aerodynamic stress
[Separation of the two external booster rockets is shown, with the main rocket continuing to ascend vertically with a slight rightward tilt and the two boosters curving off to the right.] Booster separation
[The main rocket stage starts to curve over to the right.] Max-CB: Highest chance of collision with care bears
[Separation of the second rocket stage. Main rocket heads right, whilst second booster stage curves downward to meet trajectory of first booster stages.] Main stage separation
[Main rocket continues towards the right.] GPS silenced so it will stop saying "make a U-turn"
[First and second stage booster rocket trajectories meet and become a single trajectory heading upwards and right.] Reunification
[Trajectory of main rocket wobbles slightly.] Pilot panics, copilot takes command after struggle
[Booster stage rockets continue to head upwards and right towards the main rocket trajectory.] Pursuit phase
[Main rocket and booster stage trajectories meet and cross three times.] Inter-stage dogfight
[The trajectory for one of the stages ends in an explosion.]
[The remaining trajectory, indicated with dashed-lines and question marks, continues towards the right and off the edge of the page.] Winner proceeds to space

