SpaceX Starship SN8 explodes on landing after test flight
SpaceX’s Starship prototype crashed in a fiery explosion while attempting to land Wednesday after its test launch from the company’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Despite the catastrophic end to the test, Elon Musk was thrilled. ’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!!.’
The explosion is barely relevant and shouldn't be the focus of the headlines. This test was hugely successful and exceeded all expectations SpaceX had for the flight. This is SpaceX. They test to failure, collect data, iterate, test again, repeat until success. This is why they're so far ahead of everyone else. I think the real headline is to quote Elon Musk after the flight "Mars, here we come!"
I was watching it live and it was amazing to see the steel behemoth take flight and fall. It was truly jaw dropping when the engines re-lit and the thing flipped from horizontal to vertical and _almost_ made a soft touchdown.
The belly flop was pulled of amazingly though. Can't wait for SN9 to pull through.
Another happy landing. Seriously, way to go SpaceX! SN8 performed amazingly well and pulled off every manuever. Getting SN9 to slow down a bit more shouldn't be that hard.
"The rocket performed perfectly, it just landed at the wrong speed."
I still am down for this-one day we will travel through hyperspace. We used to say it was scientifically impossible tigo faster than a horse-look at where we are now.
HELL YEAH MILLIONS DOWN THE OCEAN WOOO
I'm still that bored.
All of the comments I’ve seen on this have been rather pleasant and it is a nice change from everything else going on.
Dang. But that's why it's called a prototype. Learn from it and improve. :)
As the adage goes, "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs." Besides, this is rocket sciece things are bound to explode now and then. Congratulations to the SpaceX Team for their bold endeavour!