Space Travel & Exploration

[Pann]

Space X have released some spectacular footage of Ship's splashdown - https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1961165064666312956

[PACOX]

I don't get people like you, you do realize the only reason the US isn't 100% dependent on Russia for anything ISS related is because of SpaceX right? Not to mention SpaceX has proven so much already, I mean yeah Starship has had some large setbacks, but it also has had some crazy successes. Hate Elon all you want, but try not to condemn and end our best option for space that has proven itself very capable (Falcons and dragon both have insane success rates).

The US has never been 100% dependent on Russia for the ISS. The US has to use Russia to get astronauts to the ISS but the ISS is much more than just sending people there. The US never had a problem supplying the ISS and sending up scientific missions. The ISS is a international effort for a reason, Russia managing the human spaceflight portion was never really an issue. The issue was there was no redundancy with only have one capsule capable of sending and returning astronauts.

SpaceX doesn't really fix the redundancy issue either. That's why the two capsules capable* of sending astronauts up. And who cares about Dragon? We're talking about a whole different stack of hardware. It doesn't matter what successes SpaceX has achieved with Dragon and F9, they are struggling with backend processes to get Starship online. Three very different projects.

Also I have significant doubts about China getting a man to the moon because they are hitting such massive woes in all their industries as well as socially I am not sure the current government will survive that long. That isn't even mentioning their insane population collapse around the corner.

I should have read this part first. I don't think you actually know what you're talking about.

Anyway. People actually interested in the advancement of spaceflight simply would like to SpaceX divorced from decisions getting in its way of progress. It's obvious when certain decisions were mandated from the too and end up harming forward progress of Starship. Example, the previous 2 test ships that blew up shouldn't have gone up in the states they were in and it's obvious engineers were directed to cut corners to push for launches. It's little dumb ship like attempting to launch the worlds largest operational rocket without a deluge system that lets us know management is getting in ye way of the engineers. NO aerospace lead would skimp on a deluge system.

[bledgor]

The US has never been 100% dependent on Russia for the ISS. The US has to use Russia to get astronauts to the ISS but the ISS is much more than just sending people there. The US never had a problem supplying the ISS and sending up scientific missions. The ISS is a international effort for a reason, Russia managing the human spaceflight portion was never really an issue. The issue was there was no redundancy with only have one capsule capable of sending and returning astronauts.

SpaceX doesn't really fix the redundancy issue either. That's why the two capsules capable* of sending astronauts up. And who cares about Dragon? We're talking about a whole different stack of hardware. It doesn't matter what successes SpaceX has achieved with Dragon and F9, they are struggling with backend processes to get Starship online. Three very different projects.

Because delusional people like him would prefer spaceX die off for being associated with Elon, not caring the damage it would do to not just our space faring capabilities, but mankinds. I mean the lengths and steps we had to go through for the James Webb would have been significantly lessened with something like Starship being operational. I concede it might never reach the point of reusable, but even if it isn't there would still be uses for it with massive payloads needed to go to space.

I should have read this part first. I don't think you actually know what you're talking about.

Anyway. People actually interested in the advancement of spaceflight simply would like to SpaceX divorced from decisions getting in its way of progress. It's obvious when certain decisions were mandated from the too and end up harming forward progress of Starship. Example, the previous 2 test ships that blew up shouldn't have gone up in the states they were in and it's obvious engineers were directed to cut corners to push for launches. It's little dumb ship like attempting to launch the worlds largest operational rocket without a deluge system that lets us know management is getting in ye way of the engineers. NO aerospace lead would skimp on a deluge system.

Tofu dregs? The fact they are having so many cases of people crashing cars through crowds of people because they aren't getting paid? The suicide nets they have had to put on buildings because of the issues? Evergreen? The fact their concrete problems have spread to be such a concern that they have had to do work on the 3 gorges dam? How about the fact that last year a report found that quite a few rocket silos couldn't open because of poor construction of the doors? Or how many rockets were missing fuel because it was stolen? The demographics are some of the worst out their, maybe not the worst, but it has little chance to get better because of the one child + preference for male children too for so long. People doom about China taking over, but honestly they are way closer to Russia (being in a limited window to do things before internal factors make it impossible) that I am very skeptical about anything coming out of their, especially with how many corners they cut.

I wont disagree with with the last paragraph, but at the same time feel like some of the reasons it seems so bad with spaceX is they are open and showing the public everything while other companies it is internal and kept silent about. I hope they continue to get their ducks in a row and starship even if not fully recyclable gets to a point where it becomes as boring to have them launch as Falcon 9.

[PACOX]

I wont disagree with with the last paragraph, but at the same time feel like some of the reasons it seems so bad with spaceX is they are open and showing the public everything while other companies it is internal and kept silent about. I hope they continue to get their ducks in a row and starship even if not fully recyclable gets to a point where it becomes as boring to have them launch as Falcon 9.

It has nothing to do with how open SpaceX is, which it relatively isn't when it comes to Starship. The US has seen 3 large rockets go into service within the last 5 years, SLS, Vulcan, and New Glenn. All 3 were under a lot more scrutiny and constraints than Starship. Arguably that's why their first ventures into space went so well, because they had to adhere to normal regulations. They followed industry standards, they took the appropriate measures to redesign and adjust in sims and test stands before their test launches. Their CEOs/leads weren't cutting corners they had no business cutting. Most importantly they listened to NASA and the FAA. Starship in all its glory has been mismanaged. Most people here want it to succeed, most people here also recognize the faults in its management.

Tofu dregs? The fact they are having so many cases of people crashing cars through crowds of people because they aren't getting paid? The suicide nets they have had to put on buildings because of the issues? Evergreen? The fact their concrete problems have spread to be such a concern that they have had to do work on the 3 gorges dam? How about the fact that last year a report found that quite a few rocket silos couldn't open because of poor construction of the doors? Or how many rockets were missing fuel because it was stolen? The demographics are some of the worst out their, maybe not the worst, but it has little chance to get better because of the one child + preference for male children too for so long. People doom about China taking over, but honestly they are way closer to Russia (being in a limited window to do things before internal factors make it impossible) that I am very skeptical about anything coming out of their, especially with how many corners they cut.

Brother, almost nothing you wrote here is unique to China. It's only being magnified because of cultural biased. Hell the unique thing is that when Chinese employees crash out they just kill themselves and the government minimally tries to mitigate the issue. In the US employees have a habit of committing familicide or committing some act of gun violence for taking themselves out. But all that stuff about concrete, fuel, infrastructure not working, etc etc has literally been brought up in this thread or one of the older separate ones when discussing the US space industry. There's a reason why Starship is approaching a decade (could be more I not interested in the specifics now) past Elons original promises. Starships development goes back quite a ways under different names, from BFR to the MCT.

[Nerraw]

Space X have released some spectacular footage of Ship's splashdown - https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1961165064666312956

3 meters. All of that damage, and they still landed within 3 meters of the target. Starship is fucking ridiculous.

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proved that getting to orbit is still not happening.

I'm not going to dignify the rest of that with a response, but this one stuck out to me and it might be educational for other people in here.

They weren't certified to go full orbit. They are not allowed to put 50x9 meters of Starship into a decaying Low Earth Orbit until they have demonstrated being able to reliably relight the Raptor engine in space for targeted deorbit. Losing control of a spacecraft that large would be absolutely catastrophic, given the amount of inhabited land it passes over.

So, it is all down to safety red tape.

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As much as I loathe linking directly to this asshole, this is fucking hilarious: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1961218572467999042

Looks like it is from one of the successful V1.0 splashdowns.

[bledgor]

As much as I loathe linking directly to this asshole, this is fucking hilarious: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1961218572467999042

Looks like it is from one of the successful V1.0 splashdowns.

Okay that is hilarious, and reminds me of the acronym, KISS (keep it simple, stupid).

[Nerraw]

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...eal-the-tiles/

Stolen shamelessly from reddit:

Summary of Gerstenmaier's report:
- Metal tiles were to test non-ceramic TPS options, with stated goal of improving manufacturability and durability. They did not work, so the orange was a sign of test failure
- Gaps between heat shield tiles cause issues (Shuttle gap filler flashbacks) that SpX intends to solve with 'crunch wrap' sandwiched between the tiles on installation. The wrap worked well in select spots on Flight 10, so they will be testing it more extensively in Flight 11
- White nose due to eroded insulation derived from Dragon's leeward facing TPS where tiles were removed.
- Flight 11 confirmed same profile as flight 10
- Confirmed orbital flight requires V3 to prove itself on suborbital flight, so no earlier than Flight 13
- Large-scale propellant transfer development slated for 2026
- SuperHeavy is more stable in the transonic regime than SpX's own simulations and wind tunnel tests suggest, they have no idea why.

[Tuor]

Nasa found biosignatures for life on Mars.


Note, this isn't yet confirmation for life.

[PACOX]

Starship test flight 6-7pm CST 10/13

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Pretty normal flight as far as tests go. Next launch is a different version of Starship

[PACOX]

New Glenn jusf successfully landed its booster. Biggest operational rocket to do it. Great for rocket enthusiasts and those interested in spaceflight. Major competition for SpaceX.

As far payload goes, first real mission and its sending launching a mission to Mars. Pretty impressive.

Another billionaires rocket but it is what it is.

[Pann]

Blue Origin's NG2 first stage has successfully touched down on their drone ship - https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1989076977245122908

The second stage is currently coasting, fingers crossed that will also have a successful test flight.

Hopefully this is the beginning of serious competition for Space X.

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Jeff Bezos has posted footage from the NG2 test flight

Lift off - https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989091706550284459
Booster return and landing - https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989090084902318469
Landing - https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989092331635765378

Lift off!



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More footage of the booster landing - https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989358416532488406