Controllers Forced to Destroy Rocket

Controllers were forced to destroy the first rocket launched in Brazil when one of four engines failed to ignite, authorities said, in a blow to Brazil’s budding space program. Controllers destroyed the rocket by remote control as a precautionary measure 65 seconds after liftoff, said Col. Thiago da Silva Ribeiro of Brazil’s Space Agency. The nation’s 65-foot launch vehicle blasted off about 4:25 a.m. PST Sunday but quickly disappeared into cloudy skies above the Alcantara base in the northeastern state of Maranhao.