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"accidental launch" - I am no rocket scientist, but that sounds bad.

I was curious how often this happens. I couldn’t find many examples, and they’re all military:

In 2022 India accidentally fired a missile at Pakistan: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indias-inadverten...

In 1970 the USAF accidentally launched a missile carrying nuclear material, and it landed in Mexico: https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched...

I’m 1967 the accidental launch of a rocket on board the USS Forrestal killed 134 people and nearly destroyed the ship: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-forrestal-acciden...

I think 'accidental launch during a static fire test' deserves a distinction; the ignition wasn't accidental, the restraint failure was.

My brief searching couldn’t find any previous examples of a rocket escaping during a static fire test, or even of an orbital class rocket being launched accidentally, so this may be unique.

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