The second stage is basically gone, so it seems the new heat shield failed pretty badly, though still better than the previous one. Congrats on the booster, still an awesome achievement! Still a long way to go, unfortunately. Edit: seems I was premature in thinking that pieces melting off would mean it exploded. A partial success, ultimately!
Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
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Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#72One of the fins burned half away and still managed to control for a soft splashdown. https://imgur.com/a/zNXUjbt
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#73Human nature at work. On both sides.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#74Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s lots of things that are just too big and heavy and need launch vehicles like that. It might be overkill for satellites, but space stations and habitats need the payload capacity of something like this to become anything resembling economical.
how many of those things are there?
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are still getting telemetry at this very moment, it looks like they landed it. My question: is the US Navy going to blow up this largely intact Starship, or are we just going to leave it on the floor of the Indian Ocean for another country to find? Actually, it's probably just floating there at this moment.
Given how many pieces were being burned away, the fact that the camera and telemetry survived is amazing.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#77Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#78The second stage is basically gone, so it seems the new heat shield failed pretty badly, though still better than the previous one. Congrats on the booster, still an awesome achievement! Still a long way to go, unfortunately. Edit: seems I was premature in thinking that pieces melting off would mean it exploded. A partial success, ultimately!
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#79The second stage is basically gone, so it seems the new heat shield failed pretty badly, though still better than the previous one. Congrats on the booster, still an awesome achievement! Still a long way to go, unfortunately. Edit: seems I was premature in thinking that pieces melting off would mean it exploded. A partial success, ultimately!
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#80The rate of descent is absolutely astonishing, 8km -> 1km in 20 seconds, then just hovers above the water. Absolutely incredible work by the SpaceX team. Living in central Florida I cannot wait for the new launch facility to come online. We're going to have lines of spectators into the space coast like we did for the shuttle. If any of you are heading to Disney World you should stop by the NASA Kennedy Visitor Comple…
It's mad how rocket landings are now more exciting than rocket launches.