Even SpaceX can't win them all

Samm · 2024-07-13T04:19:59.446Z

Safiel:

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This was from a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg. It was a Starlink mission. The ice crystals were caused by an oxygen tank link in the second stage. The leak caused the second engine burn to fail and the satellites were left at 135 kilometers, where atmospheric drag will cause them to deorbit and burn up in a fairly short period.

I would note that the booster functioned perfectly and successfully landed. The problem was SOLELY in the second stage. SpaceX is grounded for the moment, but I am pretty confident that the investigation will be brief, the problem will be addressed and SpaceX will return to flight in a few weeks, if not days.

Even with this failure, SpaceX is still the most reliable spaceflight provider in history by far.

Hopefully they have enough thruster control to force the deorbiting so that what debris does not burn up will impact a location of their choosing.

Safiel · 2024-07-13T04:39:00.573Z

The engine actually disintegrated at the beginning of the second burn. The second stage is totally out of control. At its current altitude, it will stay in space for a few days at most. Typically, the second stage burns up completely on entry, so there is little risk of debris impact.

The satellites will not last much longer. They did successfully separate from the second stage, but don’t have enough fuel to make it to their planned orbits. But they are small and will burn up with no chance of debris touching down.

SixFoot · 2024-07-13T06:27:38.470Z

It’s OK to admit that the occasional rocket explosion is fun to watch.

Samm · 2024-07-13T07:55:13.795Z

Absolutely! Men are genetically predisposed to like fire. Explosions are just really fast fire.

Safiel · 2024-07-27T05:01:58.536Z

Tonight is return to flight, currently scheduled for 1:45 am EDT or slightly under 45 minutes from now.

Something I did not say earlier that bears saying.

Spaceflight is EXTREMELY hard. SpaceX, with 3 exceptions, has made it look very easy. But it is extremely hard.

There are 10 million ways a launch can go wrong and only one way it can go right.

SpaceX will likely go back to making it look easy.

But never forget that it is extremely hard.

Just look at the current Boeing Starliner fiasco.

Samm · 2024-07-27T07:45:29.139Z

Another 23 Starlink satellites cluttering up near earth space.

GWH · 2024-08-27T11:14:43.834Z

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Camp · 2024-08-27T11:18:44.556Z

As long as we keep our freedom of speech sacrosanct.

That enables freedom to act on resources and create abundance.

Camp · 2024-08-27T11:19:20.017Z

OK. That is pretty funny.

Samm · 2024-08-27T22:45:07.427Z

GWH:

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Eight billion costumes aren’t required. Only the capsule recovery crew needs them to pull that off. Surely enough of the costumes from the most recent movie sequel should still be available. What a great joke that would be if they came home on April 1.

EternalVigilance · 2024-08-27T22:48:08.671Z

Samm:

Surely enough of the costumes from the most recent movie sequel should still be available.

Nah, they’ve all been CGI, quite convincingly, in the reboot series.

TheRedComet · 2024-08-27T23:58:37.532Z

I think he’s talking about the Tim Burton movie starring Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch.

To give that Trainwreck some credit, the ape costumes in it were fantastic. That’s the only thing good about it even though I love the movie because it was the first PG-13 movie I saw by myself in theaters when it came out.

EternalVigilance · 2024-08-28T00:46:17.268Z

TheRedComet:

To give that Trainwreck some credit, the ape costumes in it were fantastic.

I revisited it recently and everything you said still holds true. The ape makeup stlll looks terrific, but it’s such a badly written movie and Wahlberg was miscast.

Safiel · 2024-08-28T14:23:13.758Z

R.I.P. Booster 1062.

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Successful launch and satellite deployment, but Booster 1062 toppled upon landing.

23 successful flights (a record) and 22 successful landings.

From a flight dynamics standpoint, looked like it touched down at a normal speed and orientation. The only guess I can really offer at this point is a faulty landing leg. A couple of commentators have also offered that it most likely was a landing leg failure.

This breaks a streak of 268 successful landings.

conan · 2024-08-28T20:35:42.862Z

I see Federal Aviation Administration all future flights of Falcon 9. Watch them stall on there investigation to punish Musk.

Safiel · 2024-08-28T20:41:24.146Z

conan:

I see Federal Aviation Administration all future flights of Falcon 9. Watch them stall on there investigation to punish Musk.

While I generally don’t go down this path, in this case, it is clearly politically motivated.

We KNOW what ■■■■■■■ happened. There is ZERO danger to the public from this issue of a booster toppling. It is an inconvenience and financial loss to SpaceX only. NO reason for a flight stop.

The second stage booster issue I could understand, but not this.

In any event, the investigation should take three to four days at most. Any FAA stoppage beyond that just incurs further suspicion.

Safiel · 2024-08-31T03:51:35.483Z

I would note that the FAA reversed course and returned SpaceX to flight status.

They were getting a lot of feedback from a lot of people over their stupid and heavy handed move.

conan · 2024-08-31T03:52:49.032Z

Just shows you what they attempted to do…punish Musk for his political stance.

conan · 2024-10-13T17:19:29.323Z

Well it seems SpaceX won big time today…Congrats to Musk and his entire crew for successful BFR launch and catch.

Safiel · 2024-10-14T16:27:32.408Z

conan:

Well it seems SpaceX won big time today…Congrats to Musk and his entire crew for successful BFR launch and catch.

To paraphrase, “One small step for Elon, one giant leap for mankind.” And it is fair to characterize this game changer as a giant leap.

On a related note, the Europa Clipper launched today on a Falcon Heavy (in super heavy configuration). To this point, the launch has been successful. Waiting on the second burn of the second stage and deployment of the satellite in a few minutes.

Because of the tremendous size of the Europa Clipper and the fact that it is going to Heliocentric Orbit, the super heavy configuration of the Falcon Heavy was used, meaning that both the side boosters and the center core booster were deliberately expended.