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Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

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Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#421

Post by dangus »

flaburgan wrote: post #76
treespace8 wrote: post #14

I'm just so happy to see this level of progress. This another big step for opening up space. To think that one day this will be considered normal. 150 Metric tons sent on a fully reusable rocket. Thats like a 747 to space.

So, reusable is supposed to reduce the cost. But the space shuttle was reusable and it has been shutdown because it was too expensive. What is the differences between the two?

To answer this oversimplified question with a simple answer, the Space Shuttle couldn't be a more different vehicle than this one. It truly is a comparison between apples and oranges.

Let's start with the fact that it was designed in the 1970's. If you had a Cadillac DeVille from 1970 it would get 8-12 miles per gallon. Just the mere fact that the design is about 70 years old makes that vehicle too expensive to operate, and that's before we even start talking about other issues with the design (performance, safety, reliability, etc).

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#422

Post by ErneX »

skrebbel wrote: post #123

Can someone explain to me why this is more impressive than landing the rocket? To a layman like me, it looks very similar - the thing looks just like a rocket but without a pointy tip, and on the way down I don't understand why difference that matters. (I mean I still think it's mind blowing, because I think landing a rocket is also mind blowing)

This one seems way harder than the others which land on legs and on a relatively larger circular landing pad, this one needs to nail the tower and its arms.

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#423

Post by stetrain »

ghc wrote: post #23

Nothing could have prepared me for how that catch looked. I was sure the rocket was careening into the tower at the last second before it straightened out. The control algorithms must be incredible for the landing system to work within those small tolerances.

Here’s a video from a farther vantage point that gives a better perspective on the landing process:

https://x.com/shaunmmaguire/status/1845444890764644694

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#424

Post by abathur »

jeswin wrote: post #414

Speaking as a non-American. SpaceX just made one of the most significant technological leaps in the last decade. This is obviously hugely significant in many ways, including retaining the US military edge. Yet the US administration hasn't congratulated SpaceX. Incredible.

What counts?

The current head NASA admin (a political appointee) did it a few hours ago and it's retweeted on the official @NASA account.

(not linking as peer comment already did)

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#426

Post by dtquad »

jeswin wrote: post #414

Speaking as a non-American. SpaceX just made one of the most significant technological leaps in the last decade. This is obviously hugely significant in many ways, including retaining the US military edge. Yet the US administration hasn't congratulated SpaceX. Incredible.

There has been some kind of beef between Elon Musk and the Biden administration even before Musk's public right-wing turn. For example Biden has given speeches praising US EV vehicle manufacturers and not mentioning Tesla but mentioning all their competitors.

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#428

Post by jeffnappi »

jeswin wrote: post #414

Speaking as a non-American. SpaceX just made one of the most significant technological leaps in the last decade. This is obviously hugely significant in many ways, including retaining the US military edge. Yet the US administration hasn't congratulated SpaceX. Incredible.

It's unfortunate that Elon has made himself so visibly political, it casts a dark shadow on the great work of the people at his companies.

Re: Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video]

#430

Post by stetrain »

dtquad wrote: post #426
jeswin wrote: post #414

Speaking as a non-American. SpaceX just made one of the most significant technological leaps in the last decade. This is obviously hugely significant in many ways, including retaining the US military edge. Yet the US administration hasn't congratulated SpaceX. Incredible.

There has been some kind of beef between Elon Musk and the Biden administration even before Musk's public right-wing turn. For example Biden has given speeches praising US EV vehicle manufacturers and not mentioning Tesla but mentioning all their competitors.

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