Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!  But not bad for their first attempt!

1 minute ago, charliearon said:

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!  But not bad for their first attempt!

To be honest I was very impressed with the control of the belly flop. And even the flip looked good.

But did they lose engines. Two shut off, not sure if that was intended.

No landing gear deployed.

This was a huge success by any realistic measure. It did what has never been tried. We got launch, belly flop, control body wings working, engine relight, and an incredibly accurate landing that was just too hard. We’ll know why pretty soon. It was beautiful flight and a spectacular finish for SN8, who is now in Rocket Heaven. They got reams of good data. Just wow. Today is a great day for space flight.

UPDATE: Elon already said the header tank fuel pressure was low during landing causing too-high velocity and RUD.

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by Tim_Capps

Toasting Space X's toasty SN8 right now with a dose of Lamb's navy Rum. Spectacular stuff. Well done to Space X 🍻 Belly flop manoeuvre-to-suicide burn (quite literally I guess!) seemed to work like a charm.

Due to Starship only going a few kilometres up, were the staggered engine shutoffs deliberate? Or should all three have been burning up until cut off on the way up?

EDIT 

Quote

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

Well... SN8 did kind of turn into a massive hand grenade... 

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by HighBypass

4 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Due to Starship only going a few kilometres up, were the staggered engine shutoffs deliberate? Or should all three have been burning up until cut off on the way up?

Unknown to the masses right now. While I was watching I assumed it was planned. If not, it didn’t seem to be a problem. I was surprised at the length of the burn and wonder what altitude it reached. My guess is they left one burning for control. It was amazing to see those monster engines gimbal like that! Again, they did not expect a perfect landing on the first try. This is still development. As a proof of concept it appears to have been proved.

5 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

I was surprised at the length of the burn and wonder what altitude it reached. 

Wasn't it only allowed to 12.5 km or thereabouts? (Don't know if it reached that, of course)

18 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Wasn't it only allowed to 12.5 km or thereabouts? (Don't know if it reached that, of course)

It did reach over 8 miles up, so it did achieve it's altitude goal! 

Apart from the unsurvivable high-g impact, explosion and massive fireball, that went pretty well. 🤣

2 hours ago, AmeliaCat said:

part of the Galactic Foundation

Thank you for using the proper name of our organization.

One of the Raptor engines was deliberately shut down near the top of the ascent, as Starship did not need the thrust of all three engines at that particular time.

This test was a massive success. Yes, the descent burn was not correct (which resulted in the destruction of the vehicle), but it ascended perfectly, it belly flopped perfectly, it flipped convincingly, and it touched down (well, crashed) on the targeted landing pad.

Frankly, I continue to be in awe of what SpaceX are doing, and I cannot wait to see the next flight!

Edited December 10, 20205 yr by Christopher Low

9 hours ago, W2DR said:

Thank you for using the proper name of our organization.

 

So YOU are a member? 

Edited December 10, 20205 yr by martin-w

7 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

One of the Raptor engines was deliberately shut down near the top of the ascent, as Starship did not need the thrust of all three engines at that particular time.

This test was a massive success. Yes, the descent burn was not correct (which resulted in the destruction of the vehicle), but it ascended perfectly, it belly flopped perfectly, it flipped convincingly, and it touched down (well, crashed) on the targeted landing pad.

Frankly, I continue to be in awe of what SpaceX are doing, and I cannot wait to see the next flight!

 

Hopefully Elon's claim that it's feasible for them to put a person on Mars by 2026 is correct. Seems impossible, but Elon never ceases to amaze us. 

10 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

So YOU are a member? 

Indeed, yes. As a signatory to the Foundation Treaty I am allowed this statement. Treaty protocols, however, prohibit further disclosure(s).

I WANT DISCLOSURE!

😡

The world needs to know! Tell us all of it now! 

It's our women isn't it? It's the girls you want? 

Or it could be our Cadbury's Dairy Milk. 

Edited December 10, 20205 yr by martin-w

MARS NEEDS WOMEN

Or Cadbury Easter Eggs. (Don’t know about their milk.)

New York Post: SPACEX STARSHIP EXPLODES IN BOTCHED TEST

People can be so word not allowed. Maybe that’s why my wife and I live in solitude in a compound in a the Shawnee National Forest with goats and chickens two Yorkies and an Aussie. Grrrr.

Edited December 10, 20205 yr by Tim_Capps