The work aims to provide reference by analyzing the surface wear and the failure of the rocket sled. The copper al-loy in the rocket sled after test was selected as the experimental material, the surface wear morphology of copper alloy was ob-served by SEM, energy spectrometer, three dimensional morphometer and X ray diffraction device (XRD), and the hardness of cross section and the change of structure were measured by hardness tester and metallurgical microscope. By SEM and energy spectrometer, after test, the scratches along friction direction, broken particles, corrosion pit and adhesive particles appeared on sur-face of sled, the forms of wear included abrasive wear and adhesive wear, and the chemical element in grinding part transferred to sled. From the analysis on three-dimensional morphology, deep parallel furrow, fractured surface, irregular crack and plastic stack-ing layer were observed on sled surface. By XRD, the new phase and microstructure were also observed on the surface of sled. From the analysis on cross section of sled by Vickers hardness tester and metallurgical microscope, along the thickness direction in the range of 2.5 mm, the hardness value reduced to 95HV from 129HV because of machining hardening, and the microstructure also changed. Through the analysis, in dry friction process of rocket sled, lots of heat is aggregated on the sled surface, and tem-perature gradient appears along thickness direction of rocket sled, so the microstructure changes along the thickness of sled, and the abrasive wear and adhesive wear are observed. Because of machining hardening, the plasticity is reduced, and the gradient of hard-ness and is also formed.