Which might have been a reverse jinx, because it looks like it went fine.
Tag: starship
Starship makes it to space!
SpaceX lost footage (and presumably the ship) after this, but this… this is something new to see.
Farther along with every test. And once we can put all that mass in orbit… well. We can reassess what might be done, up there.
Spaceship Flight Test: better than I expected, not as much as I hoped.
I watched the launch. I cheered when Starship cleared the pad, because that was the big hurdle. The farther along the big explody thing gets from the launch pad, the less you have to clean up before you test the next big explody thing. Starship got to the upper atmosphere before “rapid unplanned disassembly” occurred (I agree with a certain reader here that this phrase deserves wider use) in lieu of stage separation. Well, that’s why they test.
On to the next test! Certain parts of the Internet feel it should happen on June 9th, which admittedly would be nice. Seven weeks isn’t a bad turn-around time.
First Starship orbital tests in January.
But let me translate Elon Musk, here:
It was announced earlier this month that Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, will make an effort to launch his company’s futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship into orbit in January, but he is not optimistic about the outcome of that maiden test flight.
(Via Instapundit) Translation: that sumbitch gonna blow up. Which is why there’s not going to be a single thing on that prototype that won’t be a sensor to help engineers better understand why it blew up. Fortunately for Musk, by now it’s understood that SpaceX routinely incinerates a few rockets on its way to the next step. That has proven to be quite valuable to his long-term plans…
See, THIS is what I was expecting out of The Future.
It’s not quite right. Yet. But I don’t think I’m getting a Bradbury or Heinlein-style rocketship – self-contained, easy to refuel, and with a turnaround time in hours – until we get a few more iterations of our engines. Or, hey, a reactionless drive, since I’m blue-skying it. But this would do, for my fifties. This would very well do.
USAF officially interested in SpaceX’s upcoming line of suborbital strategic transport shuttles.
Excuse me: ‘Starships.’
“The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity,” the document states.
Continue reading USAF officially interested in SpaceX’s upcoming line of suborbital strategic transport shuttles.SpaceX launches Starship, lands Starship, Starship survives.
SN15th time’s the charm:
Via @IMAO_. I’ve always felt Elon Musk’s operating philosophy draws much from the below. Note, by the way, that I say that respectfully. The philosophy below works:
Tweet of the Day, As God And Bob Heinlein Intended edition.
Slowly but surely, we build the Solar Patrol. But I say too much! Ignore me.