Yeah, they had a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) after the Starship failed to separate.
They did say if they got it off the pad, it’d be considered a success. In their pre-launch commentary, they kept saying the phrase “if we get that far”. At least they had a reasonable expectation of what might happen.
I have a feeling that if the same thing was done at NASA, heads would roll.
And....the thing made it well past the point that the Soviet N-1 ever did.
SpaceX tests to failure - that’s their operating plan. NASA just fails and asks fore more money.
N-1 exploded on the pad killing 60 stupid Russians sitting right next to it.
This wasn’t Challenger in 1986. This was equivalent to our first attempts to build big rockets.
Cleared the tower
Flew through max Q
Separation needs work
All in all, a good day.