Elon Musk

[Nanny]

Musk has some regrets from the TACO vs. MACO feud.

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/202...aturestack

[Thumpalumpacus]

Of course he does. And if he wants back in good graces, he's gonna havta crawl.

[Jackalope]

Ship 36 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly on the pad during a static test.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/comme..._starbase/

It's June 29 launch date appears questionable.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Ship 36 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly on the pad during a static test.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/comme..._starbase/

It's June 29 launch date appears questionable.

It's almost like 1959 all over again, in a hurry to catch up, surface-to-surface launch.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Ship 36 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly on the pad during a static test.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/comme..._starbase/

It's June 29 launch date appears questionable.

(Bold mine)

'That'll buff right out.' 

Boru

[arewethereyet]

[AFTT47]

Ship 36 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly on the pad during a static test.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/comme..._starbase/

It's June 29 launch date appears questionable.

It's almost like 1959 all over again, in a hurry to catch up, surface-to-surface launch.

Are you referring to the Nedelin Catastrophe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nedelin_catastrophe

That was in 1960 but close enough. The Soviets were rushing development of an ICBM and somehow, the second stage ignited while sitting atop the fully-fueled first stage. The resultant fireball killed anywhere from 60 to 150 people - most of them absolutely incinerated. Nothing left but ash and fumes. It was the worst disaster in aerospace history.

This might have matched it if there were people on site but SpaceX had the sense to keep them away.

[Thumpalumpacus]

It's almost like 1959 all over again, in a hurry to catch up, surface-to-surface launch.

Are you referring to the Nedelin Catastrophe?

No, I was thinking of the American panic after Sputnik and a number of our rockets (Redstones, I think? ETA -- on checking, at least one was a Thor, .gif below) would launch, rise a few dozen feet, and then fall back onto the pad. Atlas was involved in a couple of these incidents as well.

Thor:

[AFTT47]

Are you referring to the Nedelin Catastrophe?

No, I was thinking of the American panic after Sputnik and a number of our rockets (Redstones, I think? ETA -- on checking, at least one was a Thor, .gif below) would launch, rise a few dozen feet, and then fall back onto the pad. Atlas was involved in a couple of these incidents as well.

Thor:

Yeah, being a space enthusiast, I'm familiar with those as well. The Soviet disaster just takes the cake. The first time I read about it, I was taken with the notion that the Soviets didn't do anything small. That was especially true of their fuck-ups. When they fucked up, they really fucked up!

[Thumpalumpacus]

No, I was thinking of the American panic after Sputnik and a number of our rockets (Redstones, I think? ETA -- on checking, at least one was a Thor, .gif below) would launch, rise a few dozen feet, and then fall back onto the pad. Atlas was involved in a couple of these incidents as well.

Thor:

Yeah, being a space enthusiast, I'm familiar with those as well. The Soviet disaster just takes the cake. The first time I read about it, I was taken with the notion that the Soviets didn't do anything small. That was especially true of their fuck-ups. When they fucked up, they really fucked up!

Being more political in nature myself, I see a parallel between then and now in the sense that America is having problems with modern rockets while Russia sticking with the tried and tested seems to be able to better do launches and recoveries regularly, while Elon -- and Boeing, for that matter -- seem to be clearly pushing boundaries his company is having problems overcoming. That was my point.

The rush to build these newer, better craft strikes me as borne of catch-up mentality.