Elon's money in space and back

rockytopva · Jun 6, 2024

The fourth test flight of the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built is in the books, and what a dramatic and nail-biting trip for SpaceX it was.

SpaceX Starship launches nail-biting Flight 4 test of the world's most powerful rocket (video, photos)

It was quite a sight...and quite a fiery success for SpaceX.

www.space.com

rockytopva · Jun 6, 2024

With much joy, jubilation, and the crowd going insane @ 8:00 with the successful booster water landing.

rockytopva · Jun 6, 2024

Starship re-entree beginning @ 48:00 with much heat exposed to the spacecraft and much joy from the crowd on hand.
Hottest point @ 51:00 with heat shields protecting the spacecraft and the atmosphere slowing the spacecraft down.
Sensors measuring effectiveness of the spacecraft @ 54:00 with quite a lightshow
Pieces of the spacecraft coming off @ 58:00 as it heads towards the Indian Ocean
Made it through maximum aerodynamic pressure @ 1:02:00 cracking the camera lens as it did.
Regaining the video @ 1:04:00 with views of the flaps actuation along with much cheers from the crowd.
Jubilation @ 1:06:00 with the successful splashdown and first ever starship landing burn.

Great coverage!

rockytopva · Jun 9, 2024

Interesting new Starship landing video

trophy33 · Jun 9, 2024

I do not like this type of "cheering videos", it sounds silly and like some sitcom. However, its a great achievement. I think this type of rocket is for the space travel to the moon/mars?

rockytopva · Jun 9, 2024

There are two rockets here...

Booster - Returns from the upper atmosphere to a barge somewhere at sea
Starship - Re-enters the atmosphere from space where it ended up in the Indian Ocean

Right now the Starship has been disintegrating upon re-entree. I would say the next step forward is a successful landing of the Starship on a barge somewhere out in the ocean. I would wonder if they could not orbit earth and try for a landing in American waters.

rockytopva · Jun 9, 2024

Dale Earnhardt accident - 2/18/2001
Space Shuttle Columbia accident- 2/01/2003

I lost interest in both NASCAR and NASA after those terrible events. It is in my hopes that SpaceX will be able to send a manned Starship into space and return the astronauts safely. I would say that there will always be margins of error in such a proposition. But... They have my curiosity up!

The Liturgist · Jun 10, 2024

Now that was thrilling. He also lucked out from a PR standpoint, as I think Starship really upstaged the ULA Starliner, which looked old and obsolete compared to the Crew Dragon, and whose launch was exciting, but nothing compared to the epic launch of Starship.

And it was amazing that she was able to land despite massive structural damage. This suggests Starship is an extremely robust vehicle, with better safety margins in terms of its construction than anything we have seen before. I am hoping and praying that Starship will be, if not the DC-3 of commercial spaceflight, at least the Junkers Ju-19 or perhaps the Ford Trimotor.

rockytopva · Jun 10, 2024

The Liturgist said:
Now that was thrilling. He also lucked out from a PR standpoint, as I think Starship really upstaged the ULA Starliner, which looked old and obsolete compared to the Crew Dragon, and whose launch was exciting, but nothing compared to the epic launch of Starship.

And it was amazing that she was able to land despite massive structural damage. This suggests Starship is an extremely robust vehicle, with better safety margins in terms of its construction than anything we have seen before. I am hoping and praying that Starship will be, if not the DC-3 of commercial spaceflight, at least the Junkers Ju-19 or perhaps the Ford Trimotor.

SpaceX is working on improvements to the starship 5. The main issue, as in the space shuttles, is keeping everything intact during the intense, asteroid dissolving heat of reentry....

rockytopva · Jun 10, 2024

Another goal is the attempt to catch both the Booster and the Starship with the tower arm.

The Liturgist · Jun 11, 2024

rockytopva said:
SpaceX is working on improvements to the starship 5. The main issue, as in the space shuttles, is keeping everything intact during the intense, asteroid dissolving heat of reentry....

Indeed. But that said, Starship launch 4 was amazing, since the vehicle was able to survive and soft land despite massive thermal damage. The control surfaces were literally melting! I think this exceeds the damage to Columbia before she tragically broke up on re-entry by a considerable margin.

And so part of the reason I am so very excited is because of how resilient and robust the Starship design is proving to be. I think this could be the platform that makes space readily accessible.

I also love how the second stage of Starship looks exactly like a typical rocket ship from 1940s-50s science fiction, right off the cover of Astounding or a Robert A Heinlein novel, or the second novel in the Tom Swift Jr. series.

The Liturgist · Jun 11, 2024

rockytopva said:
Another goal is the attempt to catch both the Booster and the Starship with the tower arm.

That will be impressive if they can pull it off, however, I do think landing gear should be retained for emergency use, for example, if the towers were destroyed while a spacecraft was in flight.

rockytopva · Jun 11, 2024

Elon Musk talking about a month before the Starship 5 launch. Which should be around July sometimes. The main issue is re-entry and returning the spacecraft from re-entry intact.

"Tiles are about twice as strong that were on the last flight. We want to put secondary structure that offer a blade of protection so that if a tile cracks or comes loose it doesn't cook the rocket." - Elon Musk around 4:00 in the video below

Elon's money in space and back

Love to pray! :)

Love to pray! :)

Love to pray! :)

Love to pray! :)

Well-Known Member

Love to pray! :)

Love to pray! :)

Traditional Liturgical Christian

Love to pray! :)

Love to pray! :)

Traditional Liturgical Christian

Traditional Liturgical Christian

Love to pray! :)

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