Posted on 12/09/2020 3:19:25 PM PST by Moonman62
Epic, hugely successful first high-altitude test of Starship. The belly flop maneuver test of Starship's aerodynamics was especially impressive. So very much to build on here for the Starship program.
watched in real time, great job elon and spacex team!
Hit the pad a little hard due to engine problems during landing.
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Looked to my untrained eye that they transitioned back out of the “belly flop” maneuver just a bit too late.
Watched live. Engine s/n 32 shut down at ~ 1min. 42secs. Engine s/n 36 shut down after more than 3 mins. Engine s/n 42 performed well the entire flight. The flaps worked perfectly and guided the prototype to a dead center landing. Engine s/n 36 did reignite during the lang but it was sputtering and not much help. With only one engine (s/n 42) working there wasn’t enough thrust to keep it from a hard landing and a subsequent Rapid Unplanned Disassembly.
Prototype number 9 is fully assembled and ready for the next high altitude test. It is outfitted with more mature engines. If they all stay lit and all reignite number 9 should perform as intended.
Other than the Saturn V Apollo, that had to be one of the most fascinating test flights of a launch vehicle that I’ve ever seen. AMAZING stuff, especially the horizontal drift..
Also hearing and seeing it positioned perfectly centered on the pad upon landing attempt.
Other than making it back in one piece, it was a success!
We definitely can't have this happen on Mars, lol.
Amazing that they already know the problem. The next Starship is already built, and more are almost finished.
What about landing arms or struts? Do the fins serve as the struts? I didn’t see any landing arms deploy!!!
Very cool. Will be something to see the full stack on the super heavy booster.
It was much more successful than I expected.
Looked like they needed about 3-4 more seconds of burst to land safely.
Mars is starting to look a lot more important to me.
Thanks for that good info! Were the flaps the primary test? Maybe the more mature engines weren’t risked due to flap uncertainties?
I watched Scott Manley explain it a few days ago and he wanted to pull up early, too.
By the explosion size, it looks like there was plenty of fuel left.
Not sure how the Astronuts are supposed to survive that.
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