IRL Space Trucking begins?
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For anyone who is interested in humanity becoming multi-planetary:
SpaceX is attempting it's first full-size, high-altitude launch and landing of the Starship SN-8 today in about a half hour. (4pm CST).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap-BkkrRg-o
OOPS...time is apparently being adjusted quickly...
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The only way to describe what I feel about this whole thing is awe. Hopeful awe? This is really happening. Like for serious, this stuff is really happening.
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btw for anyone concerned about the delay earlier:
it was nothing to do with the launch itself. A small aircraft flew into the restricted airspace, so they had to halt the launch to make certain they cleared the area. -
Theories are the engine failure was purposeful to test hover capabilities.
Overall that was amazing ... until the end... But, even then: they completed the rotation they wanted, they landed it where they wanted, they just... uh, landed a bit fast.
But watching it do those maneuvers and fly horizontally was....
man.Mind blown.
ETA:
Early theories re: landing issue was that one of the engines didn't fully re-light, which would have caused the velocity on landing.Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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It's way more good than it is bad, and I think that it exploding like that is part of the development process (so to speak). I am quite sure they learned an incredible amount, and I love that the little caption at the bottom was all "S9 Next!"
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@sunny said in IRL Space Trucking begins?:
It's way more good than it is bad, and I think that it exploding like that is part of the development process (so to speak). I am quite sure they learned an incredible amount, and I love that the little caption at the bottom was all "S9 Next!"
This was the caption I liked:
It's engineering. Failures still mean data which still means progress.
They managed that flip from vertical to horizontal to vertical. Which has never been done before. That, in and of itself, makes it a success in my eyes.
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Just...WOW....YES!
Elon just tweeted that it was header tank pressure...not enough fuel...that caused the crash. They got all of the data they needed....and they already have SN-9 (a duplicate of 8), SN-10 through SN-16 already in production....
The speed at which this is all moving forward is just absolutely stunning.
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@friarzen said in IRL Space Trucking begins?:
Just...WOW....YES!
Elon just tweeted that it was header tank pressure...not enough fuel...that caused the crash. They got all of the data they needed....and they already have SN-9 (a duplicate of 8), SN-10 through SN-16 already in production....
The speed at which this is all moving forward is just absolutely stunning.
I'm not sure what it was! At T+1:40 it looked like one of the engines was firing into the metal casing around it, so I don't know if it was low fuel or what but damn. That was exciting!
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The title of this thread made me want a small scale MUSH with players of the crew of a spacefaring freighter. But very much not Firefly.
