DemoSat

Maiden flight of the Delta IV Heavy, then the most powerful rocket in service, carrying a ballasted DemoSat test article and two university nanosatellites. Cavitation in the propellant feedlines tricked the engines into a premature shutdown of all three common booster cores, and the vehicle fell well short of its target. DemoSat reached only a low orbit, and the two nanosats were left so low that they reentered within hours without ever being contacted.