Clarity:
I’m no fanboy of Musk, be it Tesla or SpaceX. I’m a geek and fanatic of good science & engineering.
I am, however, an outside critic whose only bias - admitted - is Tesla’s prolific use of tax subsidies and carbon credits (aside from his chumming of chyna).
My original comment was not of the flight itself - obvious to those who can read - but of SpaceX staff reaction; it was a shitshow from the outset...its genesis being Musk’s ‘unofficial’ remarks about ‘50/50’ (which I’d not known until yesterday).
From my perspective, the flight was prefaced Thursday morning as a ‘flight test’ of the integrated booster & Starship vehicle. I observed numerous anomalies during launch, culminating in the asinine ‘flip’ maneuver (it made a total of 4 flips before self-destruct) about which I’ve also since learned more information (I reiterate ‘asinine’, in consideration of decades of collective rocketry experience by the industry).
SpaceX bungled the public relations end of this flight test, which collectively exposes a lack of confidence by Musk of his engineering team, evidenced by the ‘disconnect’ of his weeks-earlier ‘50/50’ comments, media releases of the entire flight test agenda itself and damage control statements of ‘cleared the tower = success’.
It was all unnecessary & managed very, very badly. The bad optics - evidenced by worldwide headlines - were self-inflicted.
I must pose the serious question: Was it intentional? And, if so, why?
After 3 years of gaslighting (continuing) over the virus, Trump, Russia Collusion (the list is almost endless), yes: I fully concede a ‘sensitivity’ to the gross similarity of their damage control and our own government (hence my ‘government-affiliated’ comment).
Rightly so, IMHO. And yeah, the scars on my back are so thick the newb/fanboy attacks of my righteous critique are just another day in the life of a blue-state (trapped; it’s a family thing) Conservative on FR.
“rapid unscheduled disassembly”; my God in Heaven. /s
I kinda am. He seems like the Donald Trump of the industrial world. :)
We are all entitled to opinions, so yours is noted and I see from whence you derive it. I have a differing opinion: Falcon (his other major rocket) had a rollout that was similar, early mistakes and failures -- yet once they addressed the deficits in design, it functions flawlessly. I expect the same with this rocket module.
It was very clear that Musk would be happy if the rocket cleared the tower. Not only did it achieve that, it had a four-minute sustained flight. Not bad for the first launch.
Our opinions differ, but I respect yours and expect you would respect mine.
No they didn't. The media talking heads and "influencers" didn't know WTF was really going on and ran with whatever emotional BS they usually do.
You proclaim to be a "fanatic of good science and engineering" and yet decry the very process SpaceX has been using to make a complete mockery of everything NASA has done to date and surpassing NASA in every conceivable metric to lower the cost of getting stuff to orbit...
As stated, it was a FLIGHT TEST. It FLEW. Everything else is data gathering to make the next iteration that much better. They'll probably do a few of these, refining each, until it's as safe as the rest of their launch systems...
Then things will get really interesting.
Those who say a thing cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
“the scars on my back are so thick the newb/fanboy attacks of my righteous critique are just another day in the life of a blue-state”
Like you I live in a blue state—surrounded by an army of brainwashed NPCs.
Like you I laugh at critics here—at least they try to get it right—the locals where I live cannot even ask the right questions—forget about getting the right answers.