Posted on 08/30/2026 10:46:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
SpaceX conducted a full-duration static fire test of Starship's 33-engine Super Heavy booster at Starbase, Texas on Aug. 28, 2026, as part of preparations for Flight 14.
SpaceX fires up Starship's 33-Engine Super Heavy booster ahead of flight 14 | 1:03
VideoFromSpace | 2.14M subscribers | 58,856 views | August 29, 2026
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: SpaceX | edited by Steve Spaleta
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What keeps that thing from taking off?
I wonder if Mars is survivable? Can humans overcome the loss of muscle mass indefinitely?
A couple of bolts. Nuts. Shit load of loc-tite.
You’re a day late. i watched the launch hours ago.
Different rocket. Today was also the launch of the Nancy Grace telescope.
Duct tape.
Yeah. I wouldn’t want to go, but physiological changes would be an adaptation to Martian conditions.
Oops. That difference didn’t come through in the way you posted, or in the way I read it. I’ll concede. I love watching all the launches and booster landings.
Same as a parking brake. You can chain and clamp things down. It’s literally that simple, yet unintuitive to imagine, right?
Like my first wife.
They landed on land this time too. That always looks “Buck Rogers”!
ThecSaturn 5 used 4x rotating clamps at the bottom,clamping the base ring of the first stage down to the launch pads tower. The first stage rockets start at about t-4 seconds, then spend the next 2 seconds coming up to full pump speed and thus full power. If no problems like a badstart or high vibration, the clamps release.
This latest SpaceX booster uses 2 more massive rotating clamps. Other versions use a ring of 24 clamps.
On a staged rockets, the clamps are outside of the initial exhaust blasts, but theycall use a cover that flips up as the first stage goes a bit higher above the flame trench and the exhaust blast hits the clamps.
Thanks
Children born and growing up on Mars would have a difficult time dealing with Earth gravity. Yes, their physiology would be all different. I suspect pressure could and would be something less than 1 Earth atmosphere.
That’s the launch I watched.
The Russians built a rocket with this many engines to carry cosmonauts to the moon. However, they could not get the engines to work together. As a result, they had four test launches, and every time the rocket blew up after leaving the pad, or it fell back to earth.
The last of those tests took place about two weeks before our Apollo 17 mission launched. Years later Khruschev's son Sergei spoke of the N1 development, said the 3-bell clusters were manufactured and shipped without any testing, just installed in the N1. Last time I mentioned this, some pro-soviet idiot around here got all upset because the engines used ablative shielding, which to that idiot meant they couldn't be tested. Of course they could, that was Sergei's point.
They’ll be in underground habitats with full atmospheric pressure. Psychological pressure will be the worst factor. Regardless, children born there would likely not be able to emigrate to Earth.
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