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Quick disconnect popped out (like has happened before...) and check valve failed or they burst an actual fuel line, shows dangers working with cryogenic fuels. Good thing that they don't use composites or whole area would be now health hazard with tiny oxidized and fractionated carbon fibers.
LOL this Starship design is not going to work for human flight. It needs an escape capsule. Until it gets one this will be a cargo only rocket.
Can you imagine what the two astronauts are thinking right now?
I'll bite: "Bummer, good thing we're on a F9".
Does that sound right?
DanCar
Active Member
I'm the first person to call BS on the various ridiculous statements that come out of Elon regarding Starship and other ElonCo gizmos (technological roadmaps, timelines, etc.), but intimating that SpaceX doesn't know what its doing relative to proper human rating is a bit short sighted, eh?
Geez guys, this isn't a finished rocket. It is an engineering prototype to test things out. They are not using anywhere near final spec parts for most stuff.
adiggs
Well-Known Member
Of course it won't. That's why there's an SN5, SN6, and apparently an SN7 already being built. The design is being iterated before your eyes, at a pace that is astounding.
There might be an SN30 in a few months as SpaceX keeps going, learning as they go.
MXLRplus
Active Member
It's like when a fellow racer dies at a track. It can be unsettling while you are waiting, but it all disappears when the green flag drops.
I wasn't slamming the program. Just an observation of what risks astronauts take and how risk-averse today's society is.
Unfortunate it happened but that’s testing. Understand this was with the new engines.
If you scrub and start around 3:54:00+ they begin to comment on audio editing of the explosion sound from footage; and then around 4:00:00 video from several cameras and how the shockwave appears. 4:03:00 - pinpoints it.
screen grabs from the video analysis done by NASASpaceflight for those scrub challenged
nice video editing they did with the live feed.BTW the time stamp at the top of the frames is irrelevant and not indicative of the moment of the explosion.
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JohnSnowNW
Active Member
Yeah, it's not like NASA has human rated vehicles without escape capsules in the past or anything...and used them for decades.
According to Eric Berger the explosion occurred about one minute after the third static fire of the second Raptor installed on SN4 (the first Raptor installed on SN4 was static fired twice before being replaced with a different engine).
SpaceX’s Starship underwent a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly—we do mean rapid
I would be interested to learn more about your aerospace and rocketry professional qualifications and experience. Until you provide them I will put my money on the SpaceX engineers; the people who actually are rocket scientists.
The Space Shuttle did not have an escape capsule or escape mechanism. Planes don't have them either. Both carried/carry passengers.
Let's keep this in perspective. These are testing prototypes. They are intentionally being tested to destruction. This is how the company learns. Exactly how they have done with the Falcon 9. It has launched and re-launched many times with very few anomalies proving SpaceX knows what they are doing. To expect perfection on a brand new concept and design immediately is faulty reasoning. I am certain they will improve and I am also certain there will be more RUDs before humans launch on a Starship.
Can you imagine what the two astronauts are thinking right now?
"I'm really glad SpaceX tests everything so well"
The Starship early prototype SN4 has nothing in common with F9 and Crew Dragon. So why would experienced astronauts, who understand what is going on, think anything bad about testing?
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Very true ... but the Shuttle suffered two LoC accidents (14 people). Neither one would have been LoC had NASA used a simple capsule design.
WOw, spectacular indeed!
Rockets are genuinely just barely-controlled explosive tubes!
I completely agree with you Grendal, but interestingly the first Space Shuttle flights did have ejector seats
Space Shuttle - Wikipedia
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