SpaceX’s Starship rockets are grounded pending investigation after test flight
https://apnews.com/article/spacex-starship-faa-investigation-7bc8ecccd1f32fa2b1d2ea204f2b785b
SpaceX’s Starship rockets are grounded pending investigation after test flight
https://apnews.com/article/spacex-starship-faa-investigation-7bc8ecccd1f32fa2b1d2ea204f2b785b
5 Comments
“The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that the hourlong spaceflight resulted in a mishap based on the performance of the mega rocket’s first-stage booster.
Minutes after Starship blasted off from Texas on Friday, the booster separated as normal but engines conked out as it made its way back to Earth. Instead of a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the booster came in hard. There were no reports of injury or property damage, according to the FAA, which will oversee the company’s investigation.
The spacecraft continued around the world, releasing 20 mock satellites before ending the mission as planned with a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean.”
That’s how it always works. EVERYTIME. this is not news.
Edit: they are testing to failure, they know the Faa will ground the starship and require an investigation. They rely on the data from the investigation. It is how they operate. The faa has done this after ever one of the starship flights.
For anyone curious: There will be no impact on the next flight or the testing campaigns on S40 or B20. There is less than an elon’s chance of 1% that this is an issue before those two are ready. The data implementations and efficiencies will take longer to implement on the hardware than the documents to be filed for a mishap investigation.
This is specifically for the booster portion which failed its boostback burn
I understand next week that New Glenn Is set to launch 48 Amazon satellites to orbit…. Just thought I’d mention that.