This afternoon at 5:24 PM CDT, Starship Prototype SN15 lifted off its test stand into the cloudy skies above Boca Chica, Texas. Visibility was poor for the entire flight and the normally reliable downlink from the Starship wasn't. As has always been the case, the flight lasted a few seconds more than six minutes and at 5:30 SN15 landed gracefully and smoothly.
Photo by Jack Beyer, NASASpaceflight.com (as you can read).
You will note that SN15 has two Raptor engines firing; SN10, the only prototype to land until today, landed with one engine. It landed hard, with obvious damage to some of the legs, resulting in an equally obvious tilt. It exploded 10 minutes after landing.
Screen capture from NASA Spaceflight.com video
Within the first few seconds after landing, we saw a fire on the concrete at the bottom of the Starship. Unlike SN10, the fire didn't seem to be under the skirt, and the landing pad area fire control system started drowning the area in water, eventually putting out the fire. It was probably a minute or two, but seemed like more.
SpaceX ordinarily covers these launches at their own SpaceX.com/launches website, but it didn't show up for me until after the flight. Their video isn't that good, it's relying on the same downlink after all, but can be seen here on YouTube, queued up to T-30 seconds before the launch. SpaceX tends to take those down on their website when another mission takes place, while the YouTube video will be there until SpaceX takes it down.
This is a big day for SpaceX, and even for NASA, who now intends to rely on a close sibling of this vehicle to return to the moon by 2024. There's more to learn, and I suspect the Raptor engines will be closely examined, perhaps sent to their static testing facility to learn more. Starships are intended to be extremely reusable, more like airplanes than spacecraft; every flight that successfully lands is a step closer to that goal. SN16 is either 100% done or close to it over in the shipyard so expect it to be on the test stand, probably within a week.
It's also a big day for the millions of us who think that not only are spaceships supposed to land standing up and be used over, but they're supposed to be shiny metal, too.
Today happens to be the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard's first suborbital flight in his Mercury capsule, and America's first manned spaceflight. All things considered, a bigger anniversary to be noted on this day.
Photo by Jack Beyer, NASASpaceflight.com (as you can read).
You will note that SN15 has two Raptor engines firing; SN10, the only prototype to land until today, landed with one engine. It landed hard, with obvious damage to some of the legs, resulting in an equally obvious tilt. It exploded 10 minutes after landing.
Screen capture from NASA Spaceflight.com video
Within the first few seconds after landing, we saw a fire on the concrete at the bottom of the Starship. Unlike SN10, the fire didn't seem to be under the skirt, and the landing pad area fire control system started drowning the area in water, eventually putting out the fire. It was probably a minute or two, but seemed like more.
SpaceX ordinarily covers these launches at their own SpaceX.com/launches website, but it didn't show up for me until after the flight. Their video isn't that good, it's relying on the same downlink after all, but can be seen here on YouTube, queued up to T-30 seconds before the launch. SpaceX tends to take those down on their website when another mission takes place, while the YouTube video will be there until SpaceX takes it down.
This is a big day for SpaceX, and even for NASA, who now intends to rely on a close sibling of this vehicle to return to the moon by 2024. There's more to learn, and I suspect the Raptor engines will be closely examined, perhaps sent to their static testing facility to learn more. Starships are intended to be extremely reusable, more like airplanes than spacecraft; every flight that successfully lands is a step closer to that goal. SN16 is either 100% done or close to it over in the shipyard so expect it to be on the test stand, probably within a week.
It's also a big day for the millions of us who think that not only are spaceships supposed to land standing up and be used over, but they're supposed to be shiny metal, too.
Today happens to be the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard's first suborbital flight in his Mercury capsule, and America's first manned spaceflight. All things considered, a bigger anniversary to be noted on this day.
I just watched the replay, and it was amazing.
ReplyDeleteWell Done, SpaceX!
I have to say it... Suck it, Bezos!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what wonderful things SpaceX has learned from this launch and landing. Will they scrap a whole block of prototypes like last time? Or will changes be able to be made with existing production?
Ooooooooh.... Can't wait, can't wait...
FWIW, my guess is that they're going to at least launch SN16, depending on what the telemetry tells them about how closely this met their expectations. They may have a plan for many things to test before they move on to SN20, which (I believe) will be the first orbital Starship.
DeleteWe could see a launch to orbit of Starship by the end of this year. We could see it by the end of this summer.
Saw somewhere that the nose of SN17 has the heatshield tiles on the windward side of it. So I would be surprised if they didn't launch it; it might be a much higher altitude launch to check on the survivability of the tiles attachment.
DeleteI'm imagining SpaceX sending men to the moon all by themselves, without involvement by NASA. Wouldn't that make NASA happy?
ReplyDeleteI watched the replay too, all I could think of as it was sitting on the pad after landing was "please don't explode"
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the next one.
I sat and watched it sit there for about an hour before I felt comfortable that the fire was no big deal and it was a success.
DeleteHas Bezos even launched anything yet? All I have seen from him is conceptual drawings and "cool" names.
ReplyDeleteNew Shepard has launched 15 times, with no particular accidents. Orbit is still a milestone not approached yet by BO.
DeleteI saw yesterday that BO is auctioning rides on suborbital flights to space (above the Karman line but not actually in orbit). They're going to start offering passenger rides for sale and my guess is that the auction will set the upper end of a price bracket they'll try. Or help them judge the market. Or both.
DeleteLooks like they'll be carrying suborbital passengers around the same time that SpaceX will launch orbital passengers.
DeleteYet another big burn on Bezos.
The moon does not have prepared surfaces or a fire suppression sysstem to accomodate the SpaceX tall heavy lunar landing vehicles. Landing near a crater edge or on subsurface void would not make for a good day.
ReplyDeleteThe Apollo lunar landers were squat low CG vehicles, as are the losing competitor vehicles. Maybe their designers know something Musk doesnt.
Well, the vacuum on the moon makes a methane fire impossible unless everything is leaking, so there is that. They've also said on many occasions that the methane leaks are lower on their list to fix than other things. That may change now that they've demonstrated the landing approach.
DeleteThere's also talk that the legs on the lunar Starship are going to be different but no artwork to present or link to.
But while the try/fail/redesign/retry cycle has shown us SpaceX is completely capable of doing stupid things, I don't think they're complete idiots. There have been stories saying they will test lunar landings on their own with unmanned Starships long before 2024. We'll have to see.
Stuck the landing! Yes!
ReplyDelete