The second launch was better. But ended more spectacularly. It was nice to see all engines firing. (Wonder if they reinforced the concrete on the launch pad? There was speculation that the 33 Raptor engines had torn up the pad and debris knocked out a few.) Sorry to see the booster go up again and Starship had to go, too.
The SpaceX facility near me has been especially noisy with rocket engine testing lately. There was one a couple of days ago that felt like a mini-earthquake ‘round here.
I’m pulling for ya, Starship.
At times, during President Trump’s first 4 years, SpaceX was testing/launching different parts of Starship ONCE A MONTH. Now, the Hussein/Biden Regime slows everything down. There were several Drive-By Media stories that SpaceX/Starship was failing over and over. Horsepuckey! When SpaceX wanted to find out how strong a fuel tank was, they kept filling it until it ‘failed.’ It failed spectacularly, and then they knew the limits, how not to fail. Real science.
Recently SpaceX has received a contract from......the European Space Agency (ESA). The historic ESA rocket, Ariane 5 has been retired, and the Ariane 6 is behind schedule, and way too expensive. It is NOT reusable. SpaceX is reusing rockets over and over and over. One first stage has launched 18 TIMES! Instead of billions per launch, SpaceX can launch for so much less. SpaceX even launched for a Starlink competitor. OneWeb is similar to Starlink, providing internet via satellites. OneWeb’s constellation will be much less, maybe 800 total. When the Ariane rockets ceased launching, SpaceX agreed to launch some of the OneWeb satellites. OneWeb probably saved over a billion dollars with that one launch.
Decades ago, NASA decided not to pursue reusable rockets. Even with the incredible success example of SpaceX, NASA is still not pursuing reusability. Hopefully, NASA will cease spending $$$ that way, and just hire companies like SpaceX to do it well.
Word on the Internet is this rocket has been “given permission” to punch through the firmament. Make of that what you will.
It was alright.