Launch Costs

> From: Lucio de Souza Coelho
> Well, a fully-fueled, fully assembled rocket has much more destructive
> power than a conventional passenger aircraft.

Not really. A passenger is designed to fly through an atmosphere. A rocket
is designed to 'fly' outside of the atmosphere as quickly as possible. An
out of control rocket would go the same way as the shuttle. That is it would
NOT EXPLODE but be ripped apart by hydrodynamic pressure. Maths that show
the ET having an explosive yield of two or three kilotons are ususally
flawed because they assume 100% efficiency. Rockets also have a 9 minute
duration. The rocket will not explode after that because almost all of the
fuel will be burnt up.

What you'd probably end up with is debris falling from above over a large
area. Something more along the lines of Lockerby than 911.

John