#upper stage

[okan170]

Fairing Breakaway (for SFI) by okan170

S.S. Gene Cernan sheds its payload fairing on its way to the ISS. Article:

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/orbital-sciences-corp/we-shall-return-s-s-gene-cernan-lifts-off-from-mars-pad-0a/

[everythingspacex]

“At this stage of the investigation, preliminary review of the data and debris suggests that a large breach in the cryogenic helium system of the second stage liquid oxygen tank took place,” SpaceX said. “All plausible causes are being tracked in an extensive fault tree and carefully investigated.”

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/09/23/falcon-9-rocket-explosion-traced-to-upper-stage-helium-system/

[everythingspacex]

A SpaceX rocket that burst into flames on its launch pad early this month likely suffered a large breach in its upper-stage helium tank, the company said on Friday.

[astrohardware]

A Centaur upper stage in the factory, sometime in the 1960s. This one would've been used as an upper stage on an Atlas rocket, unless it was sitting in storage for several years. For all I know, this could've been the upper stage on some really interesting mission.

Just look at the engine system, though! Very very cool.