It wasn’t a total, unequivocal success. The booster was supposed to drop into the Gulf of Mexico. The main starship was supposed to land in the Pacific Ocean by Hawaii. The test didn’t quite go as planned, which is why they call them tests. When the Space X Starship blasted off at the Boca Chica launch pad, there was much jubilation. Even though the starship experience Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD), the crew was still cheering.
I know things are in the sh*tter here on Planet Earth. Not unlike it has been time and again over thousands of years. There are always people of vision and creativity. Elon Musk is one of those people. I know that Larry Page and Bill Gates are genius level types, but they are limited people. They don’t have greatness in them. I am late to the Elon Musk party. Musk had already had several companies before he bought into Tesla, but since I don’t want anything to do with electric (coal fired) cars, I didn’t pay attention to Musk. I first got stoked about Elon Musk, when the Space X Crew Dragon manned flight took off in 2020. We were all leery when he bought Twitter, but even that is better.
That bring us to the Space X Starship launch today:
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — The most powerful rocket ever built put on quite a show during its debut space launch.
With a mighty roar, the first-ever integrated Starship rocket soared toward space today (April 20) from SpaceX’s seaside Starbase facility at Boca Chica Beach here on South Texas’ Gulf Coast at 9:33 a.m. EDT (1333 GMT; 8:33 a.m. local Texas time).
It was a spectacular and surreal sight: The 394-foot-tall (120 meters) Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, rose off Starbase’s orbital launch mount atop a pillar of flame generated by its 33 first-stage Raptor engines. Starship kept climbing in defiance of its tremendous bulk, its shiny, stainless-steel body reflecting the Texas morning sun all the while.
It was more magnificent than usual due to its size. The largest manmade rocket EVAH! The test was delayed from Monday when a gauge froze. That made today’s 4/20 date more appropriate. Even I know that about Elon Musk. The huge rocket was the most beautimas of things. Watch starting at about the 18 minute mark:
And, then there was an OOPS.
The climb didn’t last long, however. The 165-foot-tall (50 m) Starship upper stage was supposed to separate from the Super Heavy first stage about three minutes after liftoff, but that never happened. The two vehicles remained connected, and the stack began to tumble, ultimately exploding — or experiencing a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” as SpaceX terms it — just under four minutes after launch.
But the employees gathered at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California to watch the launch let out a massive cheer at Starship’s demise, celebrating the gains made on its first-ever liftoff. The giant vehicle reached a maximum altitude of about 24 miles (39 kilometers), according to the data on SpaceX’s launch webcast.
“To get this far is amazing,” SpaceX’s Kate Tice said during the webcast. “Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.”
“Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly!” Better than “It blew up.” Or, “We blew it up.”
As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023
Like I said at the top: that is why they call it at test. I am sure that the Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) was actually detonated from inside Space X headquarters. Probably by Elon himself.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
I have a suggestion for Space X and Elon Musk. It comes from my high school friend, Dan Dalton. Since high school, he has been Army Airborne (AATW), Law Enforcement, and University Professor. Not too shabby. He suggests Mr. Musk lost an amazing opportunity to call it RUDE – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly Event.
Whatever. Elon has made a great contribution to mankind. Whenever anything goes wrong or breaks, we have a RAPID UNSCHEDULED DISASSEMBLY (EVENT). Let’s party like Space X.
Featured Image: Wolfram Burner/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
GWB says: Rocket go BOOM!
But first it went airborne! I’m betting Elon’s team got SO much data!
I’m certainly glad Elon is on our (humanity) side, being a specieist and such.
but they are limited people. They don’t have greatness in them
Well, they did. But they squandered it by turning into machines – just driving out stuff to increase their wealth and protect their brand. Not good stuff, just stuff.
the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built
Something like 3 times the thrust of the Saturn 5!
and the stack began to tumble
Not quite true, I think. It was supposed to do an end swap for the first stage separation. And it did. And then it kept right on end-swapping. And it did it again. I think it was toward the end of the second full circle it went kablooey.
The announcer said, “And very shortly we should have stage separation.” Followed about 5 seconds later by “And very shortly we should have stage separation.” Followed almost immediately by another announcer, “We should have stage separation about now.” And I said, “Uh oh!” And then they started talking about maybe there was a problem with separation. And then it made its second flip and that’s all she wrote.
a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,”
This one should be labelled an “energetic rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
I am sure that the Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) was actually detonated from inside Space X headquarters.
I can almost guarantee it. Once it started spinning they had no way to further adequately control it, and it needed to be stopped there. I think every rocket since Gemini (at least the unmanned ones) has had an Emergency Kablooie switch for that reason.
As to the cheering: They had a pause at T-40 seconds prior to launch. They had some amber or red items on their board, evidently. During the pause, as each item cleared (went green) the entire team cheered. Then, when the countdown resumed and reached 10 seconds, it was like listening to a grade school classroom as they counted down from 10. It was great.
Go Elon!
(And can we get him some competent competition? It would make things even more exciting to see others trying to do new things and accepting the unsafe nature of trying untried things.)
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