Was lucky enough to catch my first ever launch a week ago Monday 3/4. Had just finished dinner on the rooftop of St. John's River Grill with some friends in DeLand. Surprised because I knew I'd missed the manned launch scheduled for Saturday evening, but pushed to Sunday due to weather. SpaceX launched another 23 Starlink satellites the very next day. It was very cool to see, and was a great surprise to just look up and see the bright orange rocket flame in the sky. Was so mesmerized by it I didn't get my phone out until it was just a vapor trail, then giant smoke ring from when the booster rocket was ejected. Hope to see another one next year when I'm back in the Daytona area.
Good, so you actually got to see in real life the thing that you wanted to post on social media so you could say "I was there" even though you didn't actually see it.
Looks like it got into a death wobble at about 2 km altitude. Unbalanced because all the engines didn't light? Looking forward to the reentry views of the ship. Wow, what a time to be alive!
Meaning, wait until the TikTok videos come in from the commercial fisherman in the Indian Ocean.... "Watch the sky light up as the heavens explode!"
Awesome test flight. Several more steps forward. Footage of Starship reentering the atmosphere (rather out of control) was unbelievable. Incredible shots of the plasma, with the feed lasting longer than I thought it would in those conditions. I know it's easy to say now, but there was no way Starship was going to survive an uncontrolled tumble at orbital speeds on re-entry.
It was interesting seeing the reentry attitude and the earth spinning in the background. Upon watching the feed again, it was awesome seeing the faces of the people in the control room smiling as they were watching the uncontrolled ship toss n turn. They definitely knew it was FUBAR while the TV commentators were talking about everything but the problem. Bravo spacex, impressive flight.
Another Failure. SpaceX is a failure. Elon is a failure. I don't know if there will be amateur video of the ship coming back since by design that is the most remote area of the globe. Maybe the passengers from MH370 will post something from their "Lost" island when they are finally rescued. I am hoping there is video of the booster coming back to the Gulf though. That thing hit the water at >650mph, so that might be fun to see.
I think he’s got 3 or 4 more built. Need to do the FAA autopsy then get clearance again after making adjustments. Really impressive though. For those that like watching these I suggest reading his book. I gained a whole new appreciation for this stuff after his book. He’s hell bent on getting to Mars and I wouldn’t bet against it.
