Launch scheduled for roughly 930am EST. You can watch the live stream here
Starship Launch
- Thread starter AJL67
- Start date
Are there people on it? Watching a rocket explode is only fun if there is a real risk. 
But of course... I am one who advocates for the Olympics to have more fight to the death competitions.
But of course... I am one who advocates for the Olympics to have more fight to the death competitions.
It runs on dottle. Burley for liftoff. Virginia second stage. Thrusters a volatile mix of Captain Black Grape and Perique.
Not that fun, growing up 34 miles from Kennedy i watched the challenger explode, they collected the debris in a hanger at PAFB next to my house, there was an infamous picture of a burned out helmet that washed up, the one item that showed the astronauts were alive after the explosion, my best friend was the one that found the helmet washed up on the beach. The worst part was the economic issues, 1000s of ppl out of work, many cities in the area were damaged economically for years and years.Are there people on it? Watching a rocket explode is only fun if there is a real risk.
But of course... I am one who advocates for the Olympics to have more fight to the death competitions.
We had months of interviews and specials to get to know each of the astronauts on Challenger. And, the first average citizen teacher was on board. It was devastating. But, this is corporate America doing the SpaceX stuff, with only stupid billionaires risking the most, so... I can live with myself.
Well the challenger was stupid “marketing” stuff because of previous delays and they were worried about ppl losing interest so they launched when they shouldn’t have. Elon isn’t that stupid. I loved his rapid deconstruction tweet when one of the starships exploded just after landing.We had months of interviews and specials to get to know each of the astronauts on Challenger. And, the first average citizen teacher was on board. It was devastating. But, this is corporate America doing the SpaceX stuff, with only stupid billionaires risking the most, so... I can live with myself.
Society will likely collapse long before any significant findings from deep space exploration happens.
Jeff Bazos and Richard Branson are working on bigger rockets in a transparent spectacle of weenie wagging.
I don't know, buying Twitter at the price he did didn't exactly put him in Mensa category.
I think that went well. SpaceX facilities are intact, no mass casualties and a nice explosion at the end!
Ya, I think he wondered outside his area of expertise there. I think his billions have gone to his head. He figures anything he touches will turn to gold.
SpaceX and Tesla are quite successful obviously.
But I think his idea of colonizing Mars is ludicrous and misguided.
Test Flight - they kind of expected that... SpaceX dev model is 'fail faster' - so this was really more of a 'success' than they really expected.
They've actually got two more ready to fly, as soon as they figure out whay they need to change from this one. I say, more CB Grape and scale back the Perique.
@AJL67 - Thanks for posting. It was one helluva flight until self destruct. Outstanding engineering- 28 engines, all but 5 maneuvering.
They've actually got two more ready to fly, as soon as they figure out whay they need to change from this one. I say, more CB Grape and scale back the Perique.
@AJL67 - Thanks for posting. It was one helluva flight until self destruct. Outstanding engineering- 28 engines, all but 5 maneuvering.
They cut corners and tried going with 100% MB Virginia #1. Far more dangerous than standard rocket fuel.
SpaceX follows a philosophy called “Fail Fast”. The alternative philosophy is “Analysis Paralysis”. There is a Netflix documentary on SpaceX where “Fail Fast” is explained including some NASA scientists opining on “Fail Fast”
Fail Fast essentially means to take certain acceptable risks to do things quicker - much quicker. If the outcome is a success of course nothing more can be said, but even for a failed outcome there is so much data generated, it becomes much quicker to succeed in the next attempt.
Fail Fast is often cheaper even if the success comes after a few failed attempts, compared to an attempt which is completely vetted and takes many many years of work.
However both “Analysis Paralysis” and “Fail Fast” is important. If there are human lives involved “Analysis Paralysis “ is always better. For unmanned space flights many believe “Fail Fast” is better
Fail Fast essentially means to take certain acceptable risks to do things quicker - much quicker. If the outcome is a success of course nothing more can be said, but even for a failed outcome there is so much data generated, it becomes much quicker to succeed in the next attempt.
Fail Fast is often cheaper even if the success comes after a few failed attempts, compared to an attempt which is completely vetted and takes many many years of work.
However both “Analysis Paralysis” and “Fail Fast” is important. If there are human lives involved “Analysis Paralysis “ is always better. For unmanned space flights many believe “Fail Fast” is better
On January 27, 1986 a lawyer friend of mine invited me to join the local Eagles fraternity. I’d already been made a master Freemason, and I was a member of the JayCees and the Chamber of Commerce and I was an elder on the Christian Church board, but I discovered that evening the Eagles are a fraternity organized on different principles.
I dimly remember the Eagles initiation, but once I was an Eagle they started plying me with lots of whiskey and I ended up running across yards at five in the morning in a drunken and debased state, and woke up about noon.
When I drug myself to the office, the Challenger explosion was on an endless loop on the television.
I can remember thinking that those people were the only ones I knew for certain had messed up more than I had that day.
My secretary at the time was also a member of the Christian Church, about my mother’s age, and was utterly disgusted by my shameful drunkenness.
She knew my wife and I were planning for a baby, and asked me—
What will you tell your children about where you were when the space shuttle blew up?
My answer was, about anything except the truth.
I dimly remember the Eagles initiation, but once I was an Eagle they started plying me with lots of whiskey and I ended up running across yards at five in the morning in a drunken and debased state, and woke up about noon.
When I drug myself to the office, the Challenger explosion was on an endless loop on the television.
I can remember thinking that those people were the only ones I knew for certain had messed up more than I had that day.
My secretary at the time was also a member of the Christian Church, about my mother’s age, and was utterly disgusted by my shameful drunkenness.
She knew my wife and I were planning for a baby, and asked me—
What will you tell your children about where you were when the space shuttle blew up?
My answer was, about anything except the truth.
Considering they weren't sure if it would clear the tower, destroy the tower and tank farm, etc., it was pretty successful, the tower made it the tank farm was fine, the flight termination system certainly worked as well lol. First test flight wasn't too bad, interesting how they designed the pad area, there is no flame dampener / diverter at the tower, that's a lot of flame coming back up that rocket. It looked like they were fine until stage separation, the first flip was planned, it never separated and that was that. Now we wait.