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SpaceX’s prototype Starship rocket partially bursts during testing in Texas
the verge ^ | Nov 20, 2019 | Loren Grush

Posted on 11/21/2019 3:00:35 AM PST by BenLurkin

A test version of SpaceX’s next-generation rocket, Starship, partially burst apart during ground tests in Texas today, erupting plumes of gas and sending some pieces of hardware soaring into the sky. Live streams set up by local space enthusiasts captured the failure in real time this afternoon.

The explosive result occurred while SpaceX was seemingly conducting some pressure tests with the vehicle at the company’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas. The local live streams showed the vehicle venting gas periodically throughout the day, indicating that testing was underway.

Now, that timeline is almost certain to shift. After the explosion, Musk indicated on Twitter that SpaceX may no longer fly this particular prototype and will instead conduct flight tests with a newer, more up-to-date model that the company planned to build. “This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different,” Musk wrote, referring to the prototype that burst.

(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: bocachica; elonmusk; fizzle; prototype; space; spacex; starship; texas
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To: DAC21

“Nothing sleek about that (not so much) flying Fire Hydrant.”

Best description of the Elon Munch rocket I’ve ever seen.


21 posted on 11/21/2019 4:38:19 AM PST by BuffaloJack ("Security does not exist in nature. Everything has risk." Henry Savage)
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To: Viking2002

Thanks for your reply. I now know your opinion can safely be ignored.


22 posted on 11/21/2019 4:45:02 AM PST by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: Viking2002

um, you know why they test, right?
In order to FIND problems like this.


23 posted on 11/21/2019 4:46:44 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: BenLurkin

Musk has done some amazing stuff. It will be interesting to see how this rocket does.

At this point in time though, it looks like a “Red Green” skit.

“So - the lodge is low on funds. But Harvey read in the papers of this reward to launch a rocket. Bill down at the feed lot said he’s got a leaky silo he’ll donate. Bob the welder had some sheet metal from a barn that went down in the last storm. Another 20 rolls of duct tape and we’ll be on Mars!”


24 posted on 11/21/2019 4:47:28 AM PST by 21twelve (!)
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To: BuffaloJack

Supposedly, the company that built the rocket body builds water tanks.


25 posted on 11/21/2019 4:49:50 AM PST by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: Waverunner
I always thought the Dyna-Soar had some potential. And the Saturn-Shuttle was a good one. But the whole concept went to pot when an M2-F2 took a header, and it cost us $6 mil to rebuild the pilot into a Borg. 😉
26 posted on 11/21/2019 4:53:51 AM PST by Viking2002 (..........and Epstein didn't kill himself. Yeah, I went there.)
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To: 21twelve

27 posted on 11/21/2019 4:57:22 AM PST by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: Mr. K
Yes. It's the equivalent of an aerospace 'Here, hold muh beer and watch this' test. Like souping up your lawn tractor to see if your tinkering got it to go faster. Sometimes that bungee cord was attached to the wrong place.


28 posted on 11/21/2019 5:02:27 AM PST by Viking2002 (..........and Epstein didn't kill himself. Yeah, I went there.)
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To: PreciousLiberty
Too many sour old men on this board.

I don't know if this will work or not, but Spacex is already launching rockets into space and then landing them.

The sight of those rockets landing themselves is incredible to me.

But the old tubs of lard on this board can only gripe about the shape of the rocket.

29 posted on 11/21/2019 5:23:34 AM PST by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: Viking2002

Now there’s a stupid reply...


30 posted on 11/21/2019 5:25:03 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: Waverunner

It was originally planned to land the first stages but it was apparently just too hard....
Plus the first rule of government spending why buy one when you can buy two at twice the price.


31 posted on 11/21/2019 5:36:02 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself.)
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To: BenLurkin

It was a cryonic pressure test, not launch. Something failed a the top cap blew off. Moving on from the Mk. 1 (the failure) to the Mk. 3 versions, but Mk. 2 is being built


32 posted on 11/21/2019 5:44:43 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Waverunner

33 posted on 11/21/2019 5:52:08 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: Mr. K

I’ll take that at face value, Buzz Aldrin. Where did you get your aerospace PhD, Estes University?


34 posted on 11/21/2019 6:00:20 AM PST by Viking2002 (..........and Epstein didn't kill himself. Yeah, I went there.)
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To: 21twelve
"At this point in time though, it looks like a “Red Green” skit."

Thanks for the memory jog.

35 posted on 11/21/2019 6:10:06 AM PST by buckalfa (TheA best two years of my life were spent in the third grade.)
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To: BenLurkin

Man on the moon and Mars—any day now...any day now...

Separating fools from their money.


36 posted on 11/21/2019 6:16:52 AM PST by cgbg (The Democratic Party is morphing into the Donner Party)
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To: Moonman62

Quite a gathering of Luddites here, this morning.


37 posted on 11/21/2019 6:17:24 AM PST by Redleg Duke (We live on a tax farm as free-range humans!)
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To: stinkerpot65
sour old men

Guilty as charged.

We old-timers can smell a con-artist a mile away.
38 posted on 11/21/2019 6:19:10 AM PST by cgbg (The Democratic Party is morphing into the Donner Party)
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To: Viking2002
"You talk like a yacht skipper who thinks the RMS Titanic is unsinkable. See you in three years."

You're calling ME a poser when you're unwilling to put your money where your big mouth has gone? Your favorite charity is losing out... LOL!

See ya, all right!

39 posted on 11/21/2019 7:01:33 AM PST by PreciousLiberty (Make America Greater Than Ever!)
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To: 867V309

OK, what expertise do you have in structural aerospace design with cryogenics? Musk made the correct choice with stainless steel. And the ogive shape DOES have advantages.


40 posted on 11/21/2019 7:04:42 AM PST by backwoods-engineer (Politics is the continuation of war by other means. --Clausewitz)
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