Elon Musk's SpaceX General Chat

[Tom]

What a pace they are going at, they have tested SN9 yesterday with three static test fires in one day, they are planning another 12.5km flight with belly flop landing in the next day or so.

This is history in the making, a new space race if you like.

There are some cracking channels on youtube covering everything! BocaChicaGal is killing it she gets incredible footage daily from the perimeter, she even got SN9 toppling over in the high bay 2 weeks ago, and its on the pad now ready for launch.

Everyday Astronaut

NASAspaceflight

BocaChicaGal

LabPadre

SpaceX currently have around 6/7 of these starships in production with two almost ready to go

 

[Mouth]

They've already got SN10 stacked and ready to go, SN11 pretty much done and SN15 (obital one more than likely) currently half built.

 

[Mouth]

Many many static fire aborts yesterday...one of them potentially for a range violation where a lad and his boat just zoomed by the launchpad.

Really really wanna see SN9 fly but feel like there's always one or two minor setbacks! Watching live streams is always nicely disappointing when you're a minute or two away then..abort abort abort!

 

[Legion]

Yes, so annoying. There just seems to be so many getting so close to the wire.

 

[Mouth]

At least SN10 is more or less ready to go as well, still, if you look back to Feb 2020 they've progressed a ridiculous amount in that space.



We're spoilt really. That being said....it's so damn impressive

 

[Birdman]

Feel like the weather kept it delayed til now but..

Mary/BocaChicaGal got an evacuation notice for today & SpaceX have flight details up on the site!!

SpaceX

So hopefully some excitement on this fine Thursday!

 

[Legion]

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1356566130056433664

Hopefully the weather cooperates!!

 

[Gromit]

Looks like the second engine didn't light at the very end, so not enough to straighten her up.

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1356703226737745921

 

[Deleted member 63]

Yeah, I haven't watched the videos of SN9 yet but follow Scott Manley on Twitter so got his commentary and pics.

I have mixed feelings about SpaceX. This kind of private, enterpreneurial approach to space travel was common in s-f through until NASA came along (and is still a strain). So it's kind of "the dream." OTOH, I am getting more PO'd at some of Musk's behaviour and it is increasingly clear that this is as much a vanity project as shaking up the space business. The whole nonsense about launching a Tesla into solar orbit with the first Falcon Heavy launch kind of made that apparent.

 

[Dylan]

That was one hell of an eventful test. Landed upright but with what's called a soft landing as the legs didn't deploy so that's why it ended up with a slight lean. Then boom.

For those that missed it. Launch and landing in first video and post landing in the 2nd

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367259429725491201