SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower (cnbc.com) 79
Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket on its fifth test flight. But more importantly, CNBC points out, SpaceX "made a dramatic first catch of the rocket's more than 20-story tall booster."
Watch the footage here. It's pretty exciting... The achievement marks a major milestone toward SpaceX's goal of making Starship a fully reusable rocket system... The rocket's "Super Heavy" booster returned to land on the arms of the company's launch tower nearly seven minutes after launch.
"Are you kidding me?" SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company's webcast. "What we just saw, that looked like magic," Huot added...
Starship separated and continued on to space, traveling halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as intended to complete the test. There were no people on board the fifth Starship flight. The company's leadership has said SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew...
With the booster catch, SpaceX has surpassed the fourth test flight's milestones... The company sees the ambitious catch approach as critical to its goal of making the rocket fully reusable. "SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success," the company wrote on its website.
Watch the footage here. It's pretty exciting... The achievement marks a major milestone toward SpaceX's goal of making Starship a fully reusable rocket system... The rocket's "Super Heavy" booster returned to land on the arms of the company's launch tower nearly seven minutes after launch.
"Are you kidding me?" SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company's webcast. "What we just saw, that looked like magic," Huot added...
Starship separated and continued on to space, traveling halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as intended to complete the test. There were no people on board the fifth Starship flight. The company's leadership has said SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew...
With the booster catch, SpaceX has surpassed the fourth test flight's milestones... The company sees the ambitious catch approach as critical to its goal of making the rocket fully reusable. "SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success," the company wrote on its website.
Congradulations (Score:4)
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Where did anybody mention that Musk had built the rocket all by himself?
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People he hired, or fired and hired replacements for. How many of the line workers have been at SpaceX since the beginning of the Starship project? How many have unique positions, as opposed to "Associate Software Engineer 3" or whatever?
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Musk just gave people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet until the end of the year when other carrier facilities were down.
While I'm sure there are at least a few people where their biggest concern after a storm is not being able to watch Netflix, it still comes across as a "when the only tool you have is a hammer" move by Musk.
Having been through a few storms myself, it's usually gasoline and generator shortages that are the most immediate pressing issues. Without power, your fridge rapidly becomes a biohazard if you don't start tossing all your perishables. After that's sorted out, then it's a need for money for people who
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it still comes across as a "when the only tool you have is a hammer" move by Musk.
Erm...
Having been through a few storms myself, it's usually gasoline and generator shortages that are the most immediate pressing issues.
Starlink was delivering terminals and other supplies via helicopter. And I think you're really (deliberately?) understating how vital telecommunication is in a disaster area, warzone, etc. It's one thing if your food is about to spoil, but you'll be able to manage for at least a few days, but it's a whole other thing when there's e.g. a medical emergency and you have no means to request medical supplies, evac, etc.
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Yeah, I totally forgot that during the early 2000s we un-invented things like handheld VHF radios. My bad.
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No, Musk didn't give the people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet. They get one free month on Starlink, but they have to buy a $400 dish and at the end of their free month, they get automatically converted into a $120/month plan.
Robo-taxi doesn't have a plug. It charges - slowly - by driving over special roads w/embedded coils. There's 1/4 mile of such road in the US, so the thing is useless.
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Musk just gave people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet until the end of the year when other carrier facilities were down.
Wait... when did that happen?
I ask because Starlink offered existing customers 30 days free. And non-customers 30 days free if they buy the hardware. And become subscribers.
As in, the generous offer was in fact a sales pitch.
What have you done exactly? You won't win that argument.
Zero. My net worth isn't hundreds of billions of dollars, so I have less disposable income to spend on the needy. That said, I didn't pull a sales move on people in need.
Musk is by far the most innovative and philanthropic individual alive today. By far.
Huh? I won't quibble that he's successful. I won't quibble that he's pushed some companies towards success.
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Musk just gave people in a hurricane disaster zone free internet until the end of the year when other carrier facilities were down.
Only because they were called out for gouging people. https://www.pcmag.com/news/fac... [pcmag.com]
Initially, SpaceX was going to charge its usual $120-per-month internet fee after the one-month free trial, which is significantly higher than the average home broadband bill. As a result, SpaceX faced backlash in the press, on social media, and even from government officials for allegedly running a scam to drive revenue. Today, the company updated its support page to say, "Starlink is available and temporarily offering f
Re:Congradulations (Score:4, Interesting)
Like the Global Learning XPrize? [forbes.com] or The Foundation [texastribune.org], a donation of $100M to education in Texas? Check.
healthcare,
Like Neuralink? [qz.com]? Check.
public transit
Like The Borning Company [boringcompany.com] and Hyperloop [wikipedia.org]? Check.
clean energy
Like Electric vehicles [tesla.com], Grid-scale battery storage [wikipedia.org] and the Powerwall [tesla.com]? Check.
Sounds like this the *only* person that is able to meet your stringent criteria.
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And yet they didn't.
Like many company leaders, Musk provides vision.
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Oh...boy...how little you know...
He didn't have limitless cash or connections, actually. In fact SpaceX nearly bankrupted him twice because he put basically everything he had into it, twice, even at a time when it showed no promise whatsoever, the first time was after three failed launches and no successes. Remember, SpaceX started in 2002, long before he even became a billionaire. Elon wasn't even Forbes listed until 2012, a full ten years later. What's more, NASA basically ignored SpaceX until the first s
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Re:Congradulations (Score:4, Insightful)
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And yet they didn't.
Perhaps they're content to stay in their lane. A company like Apple getting into rockets would probably go as well as Tesla buying a social media company. *cough*
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Elon Musk, as the colorful and larger-than-life front man, ends up grabbing the credit for all the things that his companies do, both accomplishments and failures.
In fact, it's the company he's put together. But you have to give his vision some credit, for steering the company the right way.
Musk himself, like most consequential men, has good points and bad points. Right now I'd say that his propensity to make decisions on impulse and to fire anybody who disagrees with him to any respect whatsoever means h
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First of all, he's not the sole proprietor. Second of all, he's more involved in the R&D than you think. If this was Neuralink, you might have a point (speak of which, the first guy to receive the implant got a job as a camera operator) and ironically your little hate club wants to see that one fail the most.
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Well what does he do?
Re:Congradulations (Score:5, Insightful)
Between SpaceX and Tesla, Musk is clearly the greatest industrial businessman of his generation. He’s the Henry Ford of this era.
But, just like Ford, Musk isn’t the nicest guy on the planet, he’s got an ugly side, and he’s pretty clearly past his prime. If he’s smart, he’ll get out his own way and let Tesla and SpaceX move towards their logical conclusions. He can still play a positive role as a senior leader and solidify his place in history.
https://youtu.be/WLjr3dzOUpQ?s... [youtu.be]
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Ford was right, and so is Musk.
Actually, in hindsight, the concept of a car that every working man could afford ultimately created a lot of problems for society.
Now I'm not gonna sit here and hypocritically claim that I don't enjoy having my own privately-owned vehicle which I can hop in and go anywhere around town at a moment's notice, but I also can't pretend that freedom didn't come at a cost far beyond what I paid for the vehicle itself. The entire area I live in was literally designed to accommodate cars. If you ever stopped and l
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And neither of these mean jack squat with respect to politics, let alone "reality, morals, and ethics." People can be geniuses in one area and have massive deficiencies in other. In fact, I'd argue that it's a lot more common for "geniuses" to be utter idiots in a wide variety of subjects than it is for them to have well-rounded knowledge.
The closest historical
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I love how conservatives love to throw around the word "cuck"
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I don't agree with the other post though, about Musk having a better grasp on reality, morals and ethics than the rest of us by dint of his superior intelligence. Other highly intelligent people have been spectacularly wrong before, about matters t
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I still believe that Musk will put men on Mars by 2020. If anyone can do it, Elon can!!!
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The grandchildren, if there are any, will be wondering how to pay the rent and where the next meal is coming from. It won't be dropping from space.
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No
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Quotes? You don't quote BEHAVIOR, moron.
Re:Congradulations (Score:4, Insightful)
Suck it, Musk haters! A few years from now nobody will remember who that Brazilian judge was, but our grandchildren will remember today.
There's no issue with people strongly disliking Elon, and still cheering for what SpaceX is accomplishing. It's not like you have to pick one or the other.
As for being remembered, both SpaceX and Elon certainly will. The question is whether Elon will be remembered primarily for SpaceX or his.. less savory ventures.
Re: Congradulations (Score:1)
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Can't wait to become a member of the Tres Comas club so people will ride my dick for free.
Re: Congradulations (Score:2)
I was going to be all cynical... (Score:2)
.. and say meh whats new. But thats pretty fucking impressive.
How does it know its position so accurately, GPS or some SpaceX bespoke system?
Re:I was going to be all cynical... (Score:4, Interesting)
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What's the most impressive was that the very first attempt was a complete success.
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Was kind of hoping it would fail just to see a spectacular booster explosion. At least they gave a buoy view of the ship exploding after splashdown as consolation
They have a good data from IFT4. (Score:5, Informative)
According to Bill Gerstenmaier of SpaceX, that booster's landing was within 5 centimeter of the target. So they had a great confidence that it will work. FAA license to SpaceX is for both IFT-5 and IFT-6. So I expect IFT-6 on either December or January.
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Well if you want to be cynical you can say less of a land, more of a catch. Either way doesn't reduce the significance.
Re: I was going to be all cynical... (Score:5, Funny)
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I've heard Falcon 9 uses GPS and intertial measurement, maybe some differential GPS from the landing pad. The Starship booster probably does the same, although with the pad being fixed it might not even need the GPS. The boosters are only flying for a few minutes and good optical IMUs can be extremely accurate over short integration times.
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So you're going to replace the CEOs of these companies when they appear to be doing exceptionally well? Please explain your thought processes.
"Space man bad"
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SouthAfrikanManBad.
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So you're going to replace the CEOs of these companies when they appear to be doing exceptionally well? Please explain your thought processes.
It's not always true that a person who's brilliant at starting a company, or at ramping up a company from a garage shop to a billion-dollar venture, is also good at running one once it's grown.
If I were to give Musk advice, I'd say, quit Twitter (oops, I mean X) cold turkey, and go back to doing the things you're good at. But there's no possibioity I would ever be in a position to give him advice, nor any possibility he would listen if I did. (The second piece of advice I'd give him is to stop firing peop
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And yet, here he is.
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Musk is not the CEO of SpaceX.
Impressive. (Score:3)
Quite impressive. In fact SpaceX is the only company that really impresses me nowadays, it's a bit like back in the space race, except the others are way far behind currently.
I don't remember the reason of having to catch vs landing on legs like they have been doing? Is it for faster reassembly? Or to not damage the landing area?
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Re: Impressive. (Score:3)
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Excitement guaranteed (Score:3)
Excitement delivered.
What are the flames coming out of side of booster? (Score:1)
And as far as musk goes. He can be associated with companies that do interesting things and also be a supreme fuckwad. The two are not mutually exclusive.
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Both Everyday Astronaut and NASASpaceFlight brought that issue during their stream.
Some people exist to hate (Score:2)
A person could literally invent ( or help invent ) faster than light travel and cure every disease that plagues the human species on this planet and . . . .
. . . some people would STILL pour hate on them because the person who did it exhibits some traits they don't like.
Such as:
1) Wrong skin color / nationality
2) Wrong gender
3) May have differing opinions about certain concepts ( abortion, Covid, religion, Constitutional Rights, LGBQTUVWXYZ, etc )
4) Isn't a part of the " correct " political team
5) Doesn't s