US grounds SpaceX's Starship after test flight explosion

BBC.com ^ | 1/18/25 | David Mercer

[hoagy62]

I find it kinda funny that the grounding happened in the last three days of the Biden administration. Note that they didn't ground Falcon 9 when they had mishaps with that.

I'm thinking this is nothing but a political attack against Musk by the administration. I would hope that whoever is appointed by President Trump to lead the FAA will reverse this idiotic an vengeful decision.

[Fido969]

Have they been grounding Boeing planes that have been falling apart while flying?

[cgbg]

Meanwhile drones are running wild all over the country.

The FAA is a joke.

[gundog]

Elon Musk's company has been told to carry out a "mishap" investigation by the regulator....

Yeah, Elon would never have thought of that on his own.

[hoagy62]

No, not really. Kinda says something, no?

[PIF]

No attack - standard procedure.

[citizen]

Sounds routine.

[Rio]

We’ve gotta justify our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen!

[bert]

anti Musk Biden apparatchiks ban Space X in a last feeble effort to be relevant

[Blood of Tyrants]

It is only prudent to ground it until they find out why it exploded.

[avital2]

hmmm FAA was slow to ban drones in LA fire areas - but rushes to afflict Elon. i smell a ‘Rat.

[citizen]

Yeah - not everything is a damn conspirary :)

[SamAdams76]

I'm quite sure the incoming Trump Administration will reverse that politically motivated decision ASAP.

As Elon himself states, these Starship launches are still test flights and the rockets are EXPECTED to explode from time to time. Space X has a rather extraordinary safety record overall, launching hundreds of successful flights over the past year alone.

[rktman]

Looks like some of the “disassembled” parts could have made it all the way down. Lots of parts from Columbia made it in.

[dynoman]

That’s normal, it’s happening with Blue Origin too because they lost their booster stage. Both have to do a mishap investigation. Bother have been through it before.

[avital2]

exactly - all these tests are to further their mission. Elon looks at every misfire as an advancement in their understanding of their technology and execution to reach the ultimate goal.

[hoagy62]

I wasn’t aware that Blue Origin had New Glenn grounded.

[The Free Engineer]

The thing did blow up. So this is actually the standard process.

[Fireone]

Yes, they pretty much have been.

[Spok]

The government has so little credibility left that it will be suspected of political motivation no matter what it does. It’s the unavoidable consequence of weaponization of government power. It may not be recoverable by any means.