Starship Flight 7

I like how chopsticks catch (a very impressive feat) completely distracts everyone from totally fucked timeline and already spent budget on mars mission. Its like any criticism is being drowned in loud cheers. Only time will tell, but I hope I will be wrong on this one

What's the criticism exactly? Like I don't get your point? Yes they are behind on timelines and on Mars, does that mean that we should post reddit-tier cynical comments every time about that? I'm not saying that you're doing that, it's more that I don't get why this is surprising.

And on the other hand, it's also funny to see how "skeptics" (whatever that means in this case) dismiss or belittle achievements that were claimed to be impossible a few months or years ago (for example, the chopstick landing). It's like a never ending treadmill of

this is impossible->okay it happened, that's cool, but now xyz is impossible.

Plus, it seems normal to me that people care less about some sort of budget details or delays than really cool technical feats.

SpaceX is by far and away the most capable organization on earth at taking all types of payloads to low earth orbit.

They are making the impossible merely late. Which, you know, is still pretty fucking cool.

I’d love to see any other country or competitor catch a stainless steel rocket larger than the Statue of Liberty that was just cruising back to earth at sub orbital velocity. Everybody else is so far behind it’s not even funny.

Spacex is cool as shit. Screw the “skeptics” and haters. Some people have a complete lack of imagination.

They're the ones who were sent in to return two humans from the ISS after Boeing's ship malfunctioned last year. The explosions are typically from R&D projects; SpaceX is capable and practiced at transporting humans (and cargo) without their ships blowing up, and that's where most of their actual business currently is. (The Dragon is the vehicle they use for manned ISS missions.)

SpaceX takes non-human payloads to low earth orbit every couple days. Over 100 in 2024.

They regularly take human payloads, too. They’re the only American launcher currently able to do so.

I actually get this take, but for me it's the ultimate distraction and a way to legitimize the CEOs rubbish behavior.

"How can he be wrong when he is a genius and can land a rocket in two chopsticks?"

No, they are making the possible very late.

I’m in a slightly different boat. The CEO’s rubbish behavior sucks, but the company shouldn’t be diminished by that. The people behind SpaceX are a modernd day Apollo Program. Absolute marvels of engineering.

> very late

when was your fully reusable full-flow staged combustion rocket engine scheduled flight, again?

Why does that matter? SpaceX is setting themselves up for failure by insisting that they need to nail re-entry first. Whenever they focused on a test flight for re-entry I'm wondering why they aren't working on more important things like the payload doors or orbital brimming. They will get the re-entry tests for free!

And even if they don't. The upper stage is cheap enough that it can be expended and still be cheaper per flight than Falcon Heavy. So that tells me that the delays are on purpose. Their test flight planning is designed to maximize ego stroking.

Starship started development in 2012. SLS started development in 2011, New Glenn in 2012.

SLS flew in 2022 around the moon. New Glenn just flew, reaching orbit with an actual payload.

Starship hasn't reached orbit, the best they did was send a banana to the Indian ocean.

Remind me again how SpaceX is the fast company?