Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
There’s good news and bad news for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project tonight.
The good news (apparently) is that, as TechCrunch reports, SpaceX is one step closer to replacing its Falcon line of active duty spacecraft: Its Starship prototype ‘SN8’ achieved a major milestone in the ongoing spacecraft’s development program, flying to a height of around 40,000 feet at SpaceX’s development facility in southern Texas.
One of the Starship’s three Raptor engines cut off around 2 minutes into flight, but the prototype rocket continued its ascent. Then at around three minutes, another extinguished, leaving just one lit and firing. The rocket continued to climb, oriented upward, but it was hard to tell from the feed exactly how high it reached. The third flared out at around 4:30, and the Starship oriented into a horizontal position, angling back towards Earth but effectively flat on its belly, gliding.
That was all expected and went according to plan.
“SN8’s flight test is an exciting next step in the development of a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. As we venture into new territory, we continue to appreciate all of the support and encouragement we have received,” SpaceX said in a statement.
But…it all went a little bit turbo as the massive starship attempted to land…
The Starship’s engines re-ignited as the rocket approached the ground, flipping the rocket into a vertical orientation once again and slowing its descent.
Then, TechCrunch rather politely commented that:
“It landed a bit harder than expected, however, resulting in an explosion that engulfed the rocket.”
…well that’s not supposed to happen. But, SpaceX’s flight controller could be heard on the stream congratulating the team on a job well done…
Watch the whole thing here…
Tough way to start your life in Texas though, eh Elon? Although he seems pleased…
Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020
This guy is a con man, how he ever got so much money and power is still a mystery to me
You are absolutely right. There are several business journalists who say that this Elon Musk is just very ambitious and innovative but relies a lot on hype, tax breaks and investors to be where he is. It is pure insanity that the New York Stock Exchange values him to be worth more than Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler – COMBINED! Last year Tesla sold 374,500 vehicles compared to the millions that the big five sold. His companies lost more than $800 million dollars last year. So it is pure horse dung that he is worth what Wall Street says.
wow that is pure insanity, so who exactly and why are they protecting and propping him up? this is the question that needs investigated!
He was a co-creator of paypal. Used that money to invest and the rest is history
Sure -history. Like his space mice which run around hot engines at min 20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aoAGdYXp_4
The biggest conman is Jeff Bezos. Amazon NEVER MADE ANY MONEY, but he is expected to be the first trillionaire.
RUD… In case you wonder what it means, it’s a very positive way to say something blew up: Rapid Unplanned Disassembly, instead of simply saying “pokid!”
I know because a lot of my creations end up RUDed.
ahhahahaah too funny
Come on it’s most likely all fake, that he lets it blow up is after the funny tube the main thing what gives it credibility. Look how this thing falls flat through the clouds, without any yaw movement, bar any aerodynamic or any other ways or means of stabilizing. That’s imposible. One has seen better animations in sixties movies…
Children fall and gets up and try again to learn…they are testing new shit which they haven’t tried yet. Failure is the mother of success….
lol
Too late on the retro…