[aquila48]

There's a slo-mo video of the launch at the link.

[Yo-Yo]

The SpaceX commenters yesterday said that anything after clearing the tower was "icing on the cake."

I saw a lot of debris kicking up when StarShip launched, so I wonder how much damage the launch pad suffered?

[Vaquero]

They need a flame diverter and a water flush system. Other than that, it was a great flight

[alstewartfan]

Amazing. I thought that Baghdad Bob was dead, nut nooooo.....!

[alstewartfan]

Amazing. I thought that Baghdad Bob was dead, but nooooo.....!

[conejo99]

My uninformed guess is that it was the debris kicked up from under the launch pad that damaged the engines and that the damage to the engines lead to the second stage separation failure.

[StAnDeliver]

You want to do us a favor Bill? Scrub Artemis and help Musk get to Mars, launching cargo late 2024, late 2026, and then the manned mission late 2028.

[rktman]

It ain’t the launch that’ll get ya. It’s the sudden rapid disassembly during flight. And nelson couldn’t be a decent chef let alone chief of nasa. 🚀

[Bryan24]

1. 7 of the 31 engines failed, or failed to start. That is 22% of the main engines thrust. I don’t care what level the bar was set at, that is not a successful launch/flight criteria.

2. The first stage failed to separate from the upper stage, resulting in the total loss of both stages. That is not a successful flight criteria.

3. SpaceX had intended to fly-back the main stage and land it for inspection/testing/reuse. The main stage blew up. That is not a successful flight criteria.

Elon Musk is a smart guy. But he is gaslighting some of you on this test flight. He took the “bar” down and laid it on the ground before the flight. He must have known things were not going to go well.

Apparently, SpaceX has money to burn. The reaction by Musk and the viewing crowd was bizarre. They acted like this was a big fireworks show. They failed 3-4 MAJOR milestones of the flight plan on this launch.

[butlerweave]

Prototypes do blow up

[cgbg]

NASA’s “race to the moon” is what is slow motion.

NASA now says “no earlier than 2025”.

First it was was 2020.

Then 2023.

Then 2024.

Then 2025.

Now “no earlier than 2025”.

Prediction—they can’t get it done by 2030.

[McGruff]

Elon Musk @elonmusk

3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount.

Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch.

Looks like we can be ready to launch again in 1 to 2 months.

5:22 PM · Apr 21, 2023