[iso947]

Statistics say you shouldn’t call your reusable ship a word beginning with ‘C’

In 1963 a LES killed someone, in 1983 it saved lives.

[numpad0]

> In 1963 a LES killed someone

Which manned abort in 1963 is that specifically? Why are you trying to skew discussion into some direction?

Note: LES stands for Launch Escape System, usually a small solid rocket that activates in case of a failure during ascent to take the manned capsule away from exploding rocket under it, perhaps equivalent to airbags in a car.

[m4rtink]

IIRC this is the case when Soyuz LES activated on the pad before an unmanned test flight, killing some of the ground crew.