They might be rocket scientists, but they had some pretty epic fails.
NASA / Alex Kasprak / BuzzFeed / Via drewexmachina.com
Once, a prestigious German rocket club accidentally blew up a police station.
In 1931, a film crew arrived to shoot some footage of a German rocket club for a newsreel. Excited to show off their skills, they quickly set up a launch. The small rocket flew off the launch pad and reached its peak altitude, but then the parachute ripped off. The rocket, still flaming from the remaining gasoline in the fuel tank, landed on a shack that belonged to the local police, who arrived on the scene. The party was over.
Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com
While preparing rockets for a Hollywood movie premiere, a rocket scientist practically blew his face off instead.
In 1929, Austrian rocket scientist Hermann Oberth (a man with shit named after him) was the technical advisor for a German film called Frau im Mond. He saw this as an opportunity to get some of that sweet movie money into his research program and also get some notoriety at the big movie premiere. Before the premiere, he was experimenting with the perfect liquid fuel mixture to be used and practically blew his face off. The studio covered his ass and said that "weather" prevented the launch. At least he didn't trip in front of everyone?
Oscars / Via youtube.com
Rocketman Max Valier once gathered a big crowd to watch his rocket-propelled car move at lightning fast speed. It ended up moving an awe-inspiring 500 feet.
In 1928, Max Valier was pretty stoked to show off his first rocket-propelled car — the Rak 1 — in front of a crowd just hurting for some action. The car, loaded with a cluster of black powder rockets and placed on a track, hit a top speed of just five miles per hour.
Aziz Maachi / Via youtube.com
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9 Times Rocket Scientists Failed Harder Than You