Obviously a lot of the ‘kids’ today commenting on the latest SpaceX launch DO NOT remember or have not bothered to look at the history of the US space program…
The SpaceX team has shortened the build/test/shoot sequence an amazing amount, and continue to push the development envelope with every test. This time, they confirmed the ‘issues’ projected by modeling high angle booster return (didn’t work), and found more issues with leaks on the payload package.
In the old days, this would probably have been one test a year…
We’re living in the future. Meep-meep.
Good ol’ Wyl E. Coyote, Sooooper Genius!
Personally, I’m amazed that SpaceX hasn’t lost more rockets, just given the number of launches and the odds of the Fickle Finger of Fate going “flick!”
“Why is the Corolla one of the most, if not the most, reliable cars?”
“Toyota has made a ####-ton of them and has learned how.”
X2
I wonder… has anyone made a compilation of all the attempts to get Explorer and Vanguard (and more) into orbit? As I recall, at times “clearing the tower” was still a dream.
I recall clips (that weren’t very old at the time) of early attempts where the engines might have made it 5′ up before the rocket fell over. As memory (and Wiki) says, the Mercury program used Atlas boosters for the orbital missions. The suborbital flights used Redstones, which were some of the featured boosters for the unsuccessful early “flights”.
Robert- Yep, for better or worse…
TXRed- Oh yeah
Orvan- Practice and attention to detail. I don’t know of any, and yes, clearing the tower… How many times did 39A get rebuilt???
I was 7 when Sputnik went up, and I remember the mad scramble to get something, ANYTHING, into orbit. A lot of fireballs on the pad. I especially remember Vanguard-1 lifting 3 feet off the pad, then dropping tail-first into a conflagration. And the pride I felt when that Jupiter-C booster with the spinning widget on its nose finally put Explorer-1 into orbit.
Yeah, I was about the same age. I recall reading some years later that there was intense competition between the Army and Navy for the prestige of launching America’s answer to Sputnik. Vanguard was a Navy project and its spectacular failure on national TV did not bode well for the Navy’s future space flight ambitions. Explorer-1/Jupiter was an Army project with Von Braun guaranteeing to put a satellite in orbit. With his success, Redstone Arsenal became the de facto U.S. space flight center. Ironically transferred to the Air Force, and later to NASA.
People overlook the successful stage separation. Given the issues of the past 2 flights, I think that was the primary goal. The leak in the thruster system seems like a design flaw or quality control issue.
They also overlook the successful re-use of a SuperHeavy booster, thus confirming that at least first stage reusability is possible.
Hell, these are the same “journalists” who claimed that Elon “slinked away” from the DOGE position, trying to make us forget he could only be in the position for 130 days, by law.
All- Oh yeah, the pad ‘crashes’… I remember those.
RC- Good point.
I remember reading about the comedy of errors during the unmanned Mercury “two inch” launch. Countdown zero. The engines fired up and the umbilicals fell away. The spacecraft got up about two inches when the engines quit. Amazingly, it settled back on the pad upright. Meanwhile, a timer detected launch and after a few seconds jettisoned the escape tower (that came back down perilously close to the observation area). Meanwhile, another system sensed gravity and atmospheric pressure (as in the final stage of reentry) and deployed the capsule parachute that draped itself over the rocket (there was a fear that if the wind picked up, it might pull it over). Now what? They had a fully fueled and pyro armed rocket on the pad with no control over it. A cool head prevailed that the best thing to do was simply wait. In a few hours, the onboard batteries would be depleted, vents would then default to open letting the LOX boil away, and the pyro charges would be inert.
Space X is remarkable. Note no positive “news” coverage.
I have a “Laika” the space dog shirt , wearing a space helmet looking up into space . I wore it on vacation , got dirty looks at Wall Drug in S.D , got compliments from Russians and others at Mt. Rushmore .
I think it is cool .
Don- Oh, oh!!! Wow! I don’t remember THAT one!
LSP- You are correct.
Boats- Neat!