Trailblazer

The first stage of Flight 3, powered by a new Merlin 1C engine, burned perfectly. Staging was the problem: residual thrust in the first stage kept it climbing into the separating second stage, and the two halves collided before the second stage could build speed. Both fell into the Pacific east of the Marshall Islands.

Among the payloads lost were two NASA CubeSats — PRESat and NanoSail-D — and a Celestis memorial capsule carrying the cremated remains of 208 people, among them Project Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and actor James Doohan. The remains of neither man reached orbit on this flight. Doohan's would fly again in 2012, on the Dragon C2 mission.