Comparison of Delta IV, Aries 1 and Atlas V

wrote:
What's that? Can the SRB actually explode rather than just develop a leak
followed by a wild course divergence?


It's never happened on any Shuttle launch or SRB test firing, but it's
possible for it to blow off its top dome with fatal results to the Orion.
To make that happen would require that the pressure inside the casing
went way too high; either by cracking of the propellant grain causing
too much burning area, or something plugging the central bore of the
grain or the engine nozzle.

Pat