Seconds after lifting off from a launch facility in Alaska, the military destroyed a prototype hypersonic weapon because of an unexplained anomaly.

The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 or HTV2, developed for DARPA and designed to destroy targets anywhere on Earth within one hour, has been in testing for about 5 years.

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Jim Festante is an actor/writer in Los Angeles and regular video contributor to Slate. He is the author of the Image Comics miniseries The End Times of Bram and Ben.

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