Post #1441 by alan81 on the US Policy board

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SpaceX conducted a Starship all-up launch this morning with the Starship vehicle fully integrated on its rocket. They were able to clear the tower and get all the way to low space altitudes before the 2nd stage failed to separate from the booster. From the video it also looked like maybe 3-4 out of the 30-something 1st stage engines also failed to ignite.

You can watch the launch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxM_L7ZCLjc&ab_cha...

Some numbers, to provide scale on how awesome an accomplishment this was:

https://time.com/6252046/spacex-starship-rocket/

Height:
Starship: 394ft
Saturn V: 363ft

# of engines:
Starship: 33
Saturn V: 5

Thrust:
Starship: 16.7M lbs
Saturn V: 7.5M lbs

Congrats to SpaceX on a massive accomplishment today.

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In the ultimate spin...
"Experienced rapid unscheduled disassembly" :-)

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We agree on this!

It was magnificent. A 165' rocket on top of that 30 engine 1st stage; breathtaking.

The Mercury capsule, by comparison, was roughly 6' x 6' with a tiny hatch.

We watch all the launches at Vandenburg from our deck as they roar over the Pacific. With binocs we can clearly watch the separation as the two halves go their separate ways.

Quite a morning!

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Congrats to SpaceX on a massive accomplishment today.

Yeah, except for the externality effects that libertarians love to ignore.

Virtually everywhere in the city 'ended up with a covering of a rather thick, granular, sand grain that just landed on everything,' Valerie Bates, a Port Isabel spokeswoman, said in an interview. Images posted to social media showed [residents' cars] covered in brown debris.

A window shattered at a fitness gym, its owner, Luis Alanis, said. Mr. Alanis, who was at home at the time of the launch, said he felt 'rumbling, kind of like a mini earthquake.' He estimated that the window would cost about $300 to fix.

Closer to the launch site, [large pieces of debris]were recorded flying through the air and smashing into an unoccupied car.

And here's the why:

Normally, major launch sites are engineered with a trench or [water system] that helps to divert the rocket's flame away from the ground and to dampen the impact, he said.
'They didn't do that,' he said. 'It appears they just went ahead and just launched this thing.'

Hey, but it's all good. So what if there are downslope economic costs to others? As long as the rocket got slightly off the launch pad, who cares about how it affects the unwashed?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/spacex-rocke...

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