Largest most powerful rocket ever, round 2

[SWORDF1SH]

Hype!

[Legend]

Looks like John Carmack might be in the control room. He had a small rocket company in the past.

[kitler53]

Looks like John Carmack might be in the control room. He had a small rocket company in the past.

doing stuff for the launch or just a guest?

[Legend]

Boom!

doing stuff for the launch or just a guest?

Guest

[Legend]

Wow. That was really something! The entire building was shaking! Enormous levels of competency at SpaceX. https://t.co/w13Ytj9rGx

— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) April 20, 2023

That was an incredible launch. My fear was that it'd blow up near the ground and my prediction was that it'd blow up at max q. Sucks it didn't reach stage separation since that would have given them a lot more data.

This was an incredible demonstration of how safe/redundant starship is. Looks like the initial anomaly happened on the launch pad right at T zero with some engines being lost. Any other rocket would have blown up right then and there and destroyed the launch pad.



It was really cool seeing all the individual engines and the massive exhaust fire stretching over 500 feet long.

[Legend]

Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/4t8mRP37Gp

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Congrats to @SpaceX on Starship’s first integrated flight test! Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test—and beyond. https://t.co/ZYsh5VkxsA

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) April 20, 2023

NASA administrator is happy.

I wonder if insurance will cover this pic.twitter.com/ZixhEGAYak

— Dylan Dylan (@SemrauDylan) April 20, 2023

WOW

Crater McCrater face underneath OLM . Holy cow! #SpaceX #Starbase #Starship #Superheavy pic.twitter.com/mgjefc3MNe

— LabPadre (@LabPadre) April 20, 2023

That is unbelievable. Thousands of pounds of the world's strongest concrete destroyed in seconds. Might be a result of the anomaly or a cause of the anomaly.

[Legend]

#Starship clears the pad!  Way to go @SpaceX!  #StraightOuttaBocaChica ???? pic.twitter.com/r9hI8blJX1

— Visit Boca Chica, Texas ???? ???? (@VisitBocaChica) April 20, 2023

Really cool perspective from the public viewing area.

[SWORDF1SH]

That was pretty cool

[Legend]

That was pretty cool

Liftoff from Starbase pic.twitter.com/rgpc2XO7Z9

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Watch the water as the rocket lifts off. Good thing they close the beach!

[Legend]

[Legend]

Lots of people didn't expect the spin maneuver so this is a graphic explaining what was supposed to happen.




No other rocket stages like this but traditional methods are way less practical at this scale.


Also a lot of data needs to be looked over but right now a ~September attempt seems likely for the next test flight. June might even be possible but I expect unexpected delays. They have a pretty decent backlog so if we're lucky we could get another 4 flights this year. 24/7 was the one that just launched.

[SWORDF1SH]

Starship liftoff in slow motion pic.twitter.com/KqHjqwP88Z

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2023

[Legend]

SpaceX gave a substantial update yesterday. The gist of it is that the launch pad damage is pretty minor and mostly visual. Their leading theory is that the force was so strong on the concrete that it compressed the sand below and cracked, allowing the raptors to violently destroy it.

They're still unsure what caused the initial damage on the booster, but the speculation about it loosing thrust vector control was correct.

Most crazy is that the rocket aborted after its first spin and detonated explosives on the upper and lower stage. These explosives blew two holes into the rocket yet somehow it was so strong that it kept going for another 40 seconds. It only failed once it fell back into the atmosphere and had thicker air help rip it apart.

It's amazing how sturdy the rocket was but obviously this isn't ideal. For booster 9 they'll need to increase the size of the explosives and recertify them with the FAA. Everything else though is all good and ready to go once repaired/finished.

[the-pi-guy]

What about smallest least powerful rocket?

[Legend]

What about smallest least powerful rocket?

I believe this might be the smallest least powerful rocket to deliver a payload to orbit. Could only deliver ~100 pounds to space. It only worked twice before they gave up and decided to build a bigger rocket.