Spacex Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico

SpaceX / Twitter / X / Citizen's Free Press ^ | June 06, 2024 | Staff

[Red Badger]

Jared Isaacman

@rookisaacman · 4h Unreal SpaceX team.. great job. You just brought the most powerful booster in the world one step closer to reusability.

[Red Badger]

VIDEO AT LINK.........................

[mad_as_he$$]

Congratulations to the Space-X Team.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Incredible how much space exploration work is going on this week!

You can feel the excitement at SpaceX. Oh, to be young again and on that team! What incredible talent.

I hope they are respecting proper DEI decision making protocol, too! (just kidding)

[CivilWarBrewing]

..and the Starship traveled all the way to the Indian Ocean and splashed down, albeit somewhat torched by plasma.

[CivilWarBrewing]

NASA’s manned Starliner capsule docked with the ISS today as well. Big day for space.

[NorthMountain]

The ship was stable and well controlled throughout flight, even after burning the skin off one of the fins.

[CivilWarBrewing]

If you go back and watch the video of the descent of Starship, you'll see a bald patch on that flap where the heat shield coating chipped away.

I hope at some point SpaceX can do away with the flaps and use RCS thrusters in their stead. Those flaps are the most vulnerable to being set afire from plasma, IMO.

[NorthMountain]

In the last 36 hours or so ....

SpaceX launched another pack of Starlink satellites

Rocketlab launched a NASA earth observing satellite

Boeing/ULA launched a manned spacecraft.

SpaceX launched Superheavy/Starship and successfully tested both spacecraft.

Boeing/ULA docked their manned spacecraft with the ISS.

Obviously, America sucks.

NOT.

[Alas Babylon!]

Minor damage, especially compared to the final result.

Every launch they learn something new, and apply that knowledge gained to improve the next one.

[NorthMountain]

The fins are vulnerable, for sure. Regardless, the Starship will need control all the way to the surface. I’m not convinced that RCS thrusters will do the job.

But I’m not a rocket scientist ...

[ETCM]

The ship was stable and well controlled throughout flight, even after burning the skin off one of the fins.

The last couple seconds it essentially "hovered" right above the surface of the water waiting for the virtual docking tower to capture and secure it. Amazing.

[NorthMountain]

Test 1, they ripped up the launch pad and couldn’t get stage separation to work right.

Starship, you’ve come a long way.!

[Chode]

splashed down, LOL... did it miss the barge???

[NorthMountain]

There was no barge. Recovery was not part of the test.

Perhaps you’re thinking of Falcon-9.

[Vermont Lt]

Did it finally dock? There was a problem with the first pass. Did they get it right on the second?

[Red Badger]

No barge this test....................

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/06/spacex-starship-fourth-test-spaceflight.html

[cymbeline]

The main sound in the video is applause. Too bad these research efforts are treated as media events subject to after-the-fact judgements by especially the media.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

If not for Musk and SpaceX, we’d be in big trouble in space capabilities.

[Chode]

splashdown, would indicate did it landed in the water...