SpaceX Starship launch

[O2HeN2]

Scheduled less than one hour from now.

SpaceX

NASA Spaceflight

Everyday Astronaut

O2

[O2HeN2]

Stage 0 still standing. Success!

From T-00:10

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[BladesNBarrels]

Did I see this right?
R U D, Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, ending for the Starship?
The commentators saying that clearing the tower was the only goal?
Well then, congratulations on reaching the goal.

[00tec]

Looks like it didnt separate. Kaboom.
Not bad for the first go.

[O2HeN2]

The commentators saying that clearing the tower was the only goal?

No, that wasn't the only goal. But destruction of the launch facilities (what Musk quite accurately calls "Stage 0") would have been a severe setback.

Despite the RUD, the launch was hugely successful.

This isn't the first time SpaceX has had separation problems. On one of the early Falcon 1 flights (third?) the booster actually ran into the upper stage after separation, causing the launch to fail.

O2

[Little Dutch]

That was great. Thanks for posting the video link.

[BushMasterBoy]

Sponsored by Bud Light!

[DenverGP]

The public in general is use to seeing "nasa style" rocket development, where it takes decades to design and eventually produce a rocket that can fly. Because they spent so much time in the design phase, they are more likely to succeed on their test flight, but the rocket design is typically not able to be revised / updated easily. Spacex instead uses a "hardware rich" development methodology, where they iterate quickly and are willing to blow up and or throw away completed hardware to move the design faster. Before today's launch of Booster 7 / Ship 24, they already have several more boosters and ships ready or almost ready to fly. Booster 7 used a hydraulic system for flight vectoring control. The next boosters waiting already have electric motors for for the flight vectoring control. The design never stops. Before one launches, the next couple are already being produced with new/improved designs.

But for people unaware of the different approach, every rocket explosion (RUD) is seen as a major setback. I would bet that during the T-40 second hold, several issues were seen, and Elon told the team to go ahead with launch anyway. Having that rocket sitting on the pad waiting was slowing down the development process.

[DenverGP]

Ship 26 and Booster 9 are ready or almost ready to go, and include the new electric thrust vectoring among other changes. Ship 26 has no control fins or heat tiles. Same with Ship 27. They are skipping those pieces until they have demonstrated getting to orbit successfully. Parts of ships 28-34 are in various stages of assembly. For boosters, booster 9 is ready except for final install of a couple of engines. Boosters 10-17 are in various stages of assembly.

[O2HeN2]

Since a couple people mentioned the hydraulic TVC, that's my bet as to what went wrong, or at least contributed to it.

After two minutes of flight with the heat of 33, I mean 27, I mean 26, errrr, 25 engines*, the hydraulic fluid might have boiled and that was the end of that - it had the directional stability of letting go of a balloon.

What absolutely amazes me is that this is the very first time a Starship booster has ever left the pad, and it was done under full fuel load and worked for nearly its entire flight profile!

O2

* I noted several occurrences of engine-rich exhaust during its flight.