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Over the past few days I started noticing reports another “Starship” rocket had been assembled by SpaceX and might be close to launch. Not that long after the first test launch in April had gone awry, I’d seen some explanations why. While I’ve wondered since then if maybe I’d just seen preliminary and unofficial speculation, the recent report did mention a water deluge system had now been installed to keep the patched-up concrete at the base of an otherwise impressive launch tower from being cratered again and pounding the thirty-three rocket engines doing that cratering with debris.
There were more reports of an impending launch first thing this morning. For a moment I wondered if I’d missed it, and then I sorted out the time zone difference and managed to tune into a live stream. The SpaceX employees seemed almost as enthusiastic as before, but the smoke at the base of the tower wasn’t grey this time and all the engines stayed on until a tidy shutdown at staging. At that point everything did seem to be working, except that the first stage exploded mere moments after the second had separated. That meant it had done only as much as the possibly far more expensive Space Launch System first stage, but I did remind myself SpaceX does “iterate” towards its grandest claims of recovery and reuse. I kept watching a last speck of light in the sky until the second stage engines cut out, then headed off to get ready for other things, supposing I’d check back later on its coast around the Earth to ditch in the Pacific.
When I did get back, though, I wound up finding reports the second stage also seems to have blown up not that long after separation. I did wonder how much longer it’ll take for one of these rockets to do everything it’s supposed to. With the non-space company SpaceX keeps having become that much more unsettling, the temptation might be unfortunate to wonder if, just maybe, being able to build several “Starships” in the time a single Space Launch System rocket comes together might become “necessary.”
There were more reports of an impending launch first thing this morning. For a moment I wondered if I’d missed it, and then I sorted out the time zone difference and managed to tune into a live stream. The SpaceX employees seemed almost as enthusiastic as before, but the smoke at the base of the tower wasn’t grey this time and all the engines stayed on until a tidy shutdown at staging. At that point everything did seem to be working, except that the first stage exploded mere moments after the second had separated. That meant it had done only as much as the possibly far more expensive Space Launch System first stage, but I did remind myself SpaceX does “iterate” towards its grandest claims of recovery and reuse. I kept watching a last speck of light in the sky until the second stage engines cut out, then headed off to get ready for other things, supposing I’d check back later on its coast around the Earth to ditch in the Pacific.
When I did get back, though, I wound up finding reports the second stage also seems to have blown up not that long after separation. I did wonder how much longer it’ll take for one of these rockets to do everything it’s supposed to. With the non-space company SpaceX keeps having become that much more unsettling, the temptation might be unfortunate to wonder if, just maybe, being able to build several “Starships” in the time a single Space Launch System rocket comes together might become “necessary.”