• @mipadaitu
    link
    English
    201 month ago

    There was a lot of extra fire at the end, but it looked amazing.

    It’s going both way slower than expected, but progress is also super rapid. This is exactly what they needed to get going with the Artemis moon landing. Without this catch they’d never be able to refuel cost effectively.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      81 month ago

      It looks like some small pieces blew off the booster and there was a little fire at the end, but they recovered it and can work on solving that for the next flight. What a catch.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        41 month ago

        I wonder how much they’ll be able to learn through thoroughly inspecting the flown hardware. That’s not a luxury they’ve had up until now. I would imagine it’s way easier to figure out exactly how minor issues manifested when they can go through the booster with a fine toothed comb.

        • @NotMyOldRedditName
          link
          41 month ago

          Elon said they’ve done an initial inspection and it’s looking great. Also already found some stuff to improve that they’d never know without the catch

          A few outer engine nozzles are warped from heating & some other minor issues, but these are easily addressed.

          • threelonmusketeers
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 month ago

            I’m eager to see how they’ll address the nozzle warping. I wonder if they would do a short reentry burn after all, or whether changes to the flight profile or engine shielding would be sufficient.

            • @NotMyOldRedditName
              link
              2
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              With the changes in raptor 3 getting rid of the heat shields I’m wondering what this means as well. It warped with a heat shield. Prior to this, they didn’t think raptor 3 needed one, but does this change things?

        • Synapse
          link
          31 month ago

          They won’t have this chance with the starship, although they tried. The splash-down seamed relatively smooth, but the starship exploded soon after.

    • Echo Dot
      link
      fedilink
      21 month ago

      Can you imagine going back to the Apollo era and showing them this video and going just land it on the launch pad again. Obvious really.