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One Of The Most Successful Failures In Spaceflight History


Subdeacon Joe

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So successful because Musk is not afraid to fail.
 

 

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/spacex-starship-explodes-spectacularly-after-successful-high-altitude-test-flight/

 

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Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!
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@SpaceX
· Dec 9
Watch Starship high-altitude test live → http://spacex.com/vehicles/starship https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWVgPaVeJQ
 
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Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

 

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If you ever have the chance, visit the Davidson Center at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center.  It has a Saturn V on its side, and the history of rocket development up to Apollo 11 on the walls.  And there are a lot of walls in that monster building!

 

It amazes me how many rockets we blew up along the way.  But each time we learned and incorporated change into the next iteration.  

 

Elon Musk is right in that they gathered data from 99% of the flight.  Returning to ground is arguably the trickiest and most untested part of the flight and, to make a bad pun, they just didn’t stick the landing.  They will learn and incorporate lessons into the next generation.  

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That's still super cool. Elon Musk is doing what NASA should have been doing years ago. Just more proof that government is the entity that slows human progress at every turn.

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SN9 heading to the launch pad.  It was fascinating to watch the video from the engine bay showing the Raptor engines shutting down, then re-igniting.  There was even some image during/after the impact and explosion!  Engines weren't visible, but the hull structure appeared to be! :o  Without knowing the design details of the Spaceships, I can't say why the tank head pressure was low, but, from Musk's comments, they probably will have enough data to correct the problem.  The maneuvers at altitude were awesome! You could see the attitude control thrusters activating!  These are test articles. That is what they are for: to detect design/operational flaws and correct them. That they got this close to landing is an indication of the proper techniques. Go, SpaceX!

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Having been a follower of the space program since the early days, I’d like to have a buck for every blowed up rocket I’ve seen.

 

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5 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Having been a follower of the space program since the early days, I’d like to have a buck for every blowed up rocket I’ve seen.

 

 

Having been a follower of the space program since the early days, I’d like to have a buck for every blowed up rocket I’ve seen.

 

So would the space administration. For that they could build maybe two more rocks for free.:lol:

 

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Oh, yeah! Jupiter, Vanguard, Thor, Atlas, Atlas, At Last!  I've got some 16mm film I shot at the Cape of at least one Atlas-D series smearing itself across the sky, probably right at booster separation. They had a lot of trouble with that! :(  Was working at the Cape in '61, as an intern on Polaris A-1 & A-2.  Had one launched off the coast (don't recall if it was off the EAG-154 U.S.N.S. Observation Island or a sub, but the bird had checked out perfectly...in the hanger.  Bird got up a short way and one of the guide "shoes" that fit around the missile in the launch tube apparently dished and cut a raceway cable.  Ka-blooey!  Some of the explosions seen where a missile started to depart from the flight path were caused by Range Safety officer pushing the command destruct button on his panel!  There were so many failures of the Snark cruise missile, where the bird went into the ocean off the Cape that they were called the area, "Snark-infested waters"!! :rolleyes:

BTW, SpaceX just scrubbed a launch of one of its Falcon9's a few minutes ago...ON the launch pad.  They'll look the problem over and fix it and fly.  Good thing nowadays is that there is so much automatic monitoring, that they can have a launch abort down to T-3 seconds or maybe at T-0, so they don't lose the bird.

Ah, if only I was about 50 years younger... I'd be knocking down the door at SpaceX.  Still have my first rocket engine designed and static tested at ages 16-18.  Fifty-five lbs thrust, nitric acid/aniline.  Makes a hefty paperweight! 

Stay well and safe, Pards!

 

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