Starship go for flight test

[Alan White]

More than a Wet rehersal, it launched etc.
Low bar, perhaps, but a solid way to find the issues,
This has been the 'Space X way' all the way through.

 

[DaveS]

SpaceX have a production line of Boosters and Ships. Booster 9 and Ship 26 are waiting in the wings, with Booster 10 and Ships 27-30 in production.

Ship 25 is complete and waiting but may not fly at this time.

[maw lod qan]

I still have faith. An endeavor of this magnitude is something incredible. 

I read earlier that E. Musk had said he would be happy as long as it didn't blow up on the pad, destroying it too.

Does this leave the Saturn V as the only launch vehicle with no launch failure?

Edited April 20, 2023 by maw lod qan

[Peter_D]

 I really haven't been following the design of the Starship and was quite surprised at the number of engines the first stage has - reminds me a bit of the Soviet N1. It was pretty impressive to successfully launch and fly for several minutes in my book! 🙂

[tomato]

Yeah, total respect to the Saturn V team, 100% successful launch all with 60’s technology, (ferrite core memory on the guidance system, how cool was that?)

[DaveS]

I saw a documentary on the Saturn V computer (Possibly YT), showing all the work by women threading impossibly fine wire through the ferrite cores (I'm old enough to remember core store), and feeling angry and depressed that all that effort would be thrown away, ending up at the bottom of the Atlantic.

Hopefully the days of chuck-it-away will soon be over.

[tomato]

Yes, terribly wasteful, but to be fair to them, sustainability was not part of their design brief, get guys on the moon and return them safely to earth before the decade is out, mission accomplished.

There is great video of one of the guidance system engineers (an old man now) talking about it, he mentioned several times it only had to work once for a few minutes, their mission focus was something to behold.

[maw lod qan]

I think of "progress", then in my mind compare, automobiles, aircraft and space flight. 

Model T to today's cars with all the abilities computers and AI are bringing.

The Wright Brothers flying what, a little over a minute. To the Concord breaking the speed of sound.

70 years, we've been to the Moon, have space craft out of the solar system, been up close to most of the planets, and even have people living on the ISS.

And I believe we might be right at that time when changes start to happen much faster.

Where does Elon claim to be from?🤔

[DaveS]

Well now, here's an off-the-wall idea

 

[Gfamily]

Here's a discussion of the launch and the multiple failures that are evident from the various video feeds available. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErDuVomNd9M

About 30 minutes - well worth viewing. 

[DaveS]

Saying "fail" right from the off is just wrong

Here's another point of view.

 

[Gfamily]

29 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Saying "fail" right from the off is just wrong

 

Denying that anything failed is not unusual in fans of SpaceX. 

[DaveS]

First of all you have to define what counts as "failure". Way before the launch Elon said that even getting off the OLM would count as a success. That it got past max Q was a bonus.

That bloke seems to have pre-judged Starship as a failure.

But I'm ignoring him as there are far more balanced videos.

[DaveS]

And here's a "good cop / bad cop" pairing. or possibly "beauty and the beast" lol

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by DaveS

[Gfamily]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

First of all you have to define what counts as "failure".

Uncontrolled damage to the launch site, ground facilities and the rocket itself.

Concrete blocks blown up to half a kilometer from the launch.

Poor site control to allow vehicles to be parked within what should be an exclusion zone

Damage to what should have been a protected wildlife zone.

The apparent ineffectiveness of the Flight Termination System

 

What appears to be a mis-reporting to the FAA of the use of the FTS is something more significant because that is not something that 'just happens in a test flight'

Edited April 30, 2023 by Gfamily

[DaveS]

A RUD on the OLM or shortly after lift off would have been a failure.

SpaceX will (Hopefully) learn from their mistakes and correct them. Rapid failure iterations appears to be the spaceX way.

But I think it doesn't matter what I say, you've already made up your mind.

[DaveS]

One last post from me, then I'm done until there's something definite to report.

 

[Gfamily]

3 hours ago, DaveS said:

A RUD on the OLM or shortly after lift off would have been a failure.

SpaceX will (Hopefully) learn from their mistakes and correct them. Rapid failure iterations appears to be the spaceX way.

But I think it doesn't matter what I say, you've already made up your mind.

So there was no failure - glad to have cleared that up to your satisfaction - at least !

So there were failures, and mistakes after all. 

But they'll learn from them.

There is the question of why the ones that were predicted beforehand (including the ones that were predicted as "we think this may be a mistake") were not catered for in advance?  And why that's not a 'failure'

EDIT

But good to know that I'm the one that's already made up their mind. lol!

Edited April 30, 2023 by Gfamily

[SamAndrew]

15 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Here's a discussion of the launch and the multiple failures that are evident from the various video feeds available. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErDuVomNd9M

About 30 minutes - well worth viewing. 

Ramblings of a guy that hates Musk drawing flimsy conclusions from the video footage.