Summary
The FAA and Turks and Caicos officials are investigating SpaceX’s Starship rocket test explosion, which sent debris over the northern Caribbean, forcing flight diversions.
The upgraded Starship exploded over the Bahamas eight minutes after launch, scattering fiery debris that caused intense rumbling in the Turks and Caicos.
Residents described shaking walls and loud booms, likened to a small earthquake.
No injuries were reported, but property damage is under review.
SpaceX cited a fire in the rocket’s aft section as the cause of the failure during its seventh test flight.
But to what end? Would SpaceX be found liable for anything? Would any penalty matter?
To my recollection, SpaceX would not be found liable. The FAA will likely order an investigation into the root cause, and any damage will be compensated by the FAA.
Why would the taxpayers be liable?
Musk will make Trump squash this investigation and remove any barriers from letting him rain debris anywhere he wants.
They’re gonna crush some vacationing stockbroker lol
oooo nooooooo did SpiceX break some of your poors little ruuuuuuleeees? Waahhhhhhhh you better run and tell daddy trump all about it!
Ugh. I wish I could like SpaceX but FOR OBVIOUS REASONS i cannot. Same with Tesla, actually. I think a lot of the bullshit idiocy they’ve perpetrated would be directly tracable to said same reason.
But. It was not to be.
Do you like the Apollo program? Saturn V was a nice rocket? Have a read of Wernher von Braun’s activities during World War II some time.
The fact that Elon Musk is an awful person has nothing to do with the capabilities of Starship. It’s a good rocket.
It has potential to be a good rocket, but I’ll be interested to see if it becomes the revolutionary rocket that Elon says it will be.
The first stage has basically been proven out at this point. That alone makes it revolutionary, the world’s most powerful first stage booster and it’s fully reusable. Even if the upper stage ends up being non-reusable the increase in capacity and reduction in cost is enormous.
And I see no fundamental reason why the upper stage won’t be made reusable. The first two Starship reentry tests got toasty but the rocket survived to do a precise, controlled landing in the ocean. That’s most of the way there.
Just work on the presumption that Gwynne Shotwell is running SpaceX.
