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Starship Flight 7

(www.spacex.com)
649 points chinathrow | 2 comments | 16 Jan 25 21:25 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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terramex ◴[16 Jan 25 23:04 UTC] No.42732041[source]▶
Looks like second stage broke up over Caribbean, videos of the debris (as seen from ground):

https://x.com/deankolson87/status/1880026759133032662?t=HdHF...

https://x.com/realcamtem/status/1880026604472266800

https://x.com/adavenport354/status/1880026262254809115

Moment of the breakup:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE52_hVSeQz/

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Cu3PO42 ◴[16 Jan 25 23:08 UTC] No.42732085[source]▶
What a strangely beautiful sight. While I was excited to see ship land, I'm also happy I get to see videos of this!
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afavour ◴[16 Jan 25 23:50 UTC] No.42732457[source]▶
As long as the debris has no effect wherever it lands, I agree with you
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verzali ◴[17 Jan 25 00:22 UTC] No.42732659{3}[source]▶
A lot of flights seem to be diverting to avoid it...

https://bsky.app/profile/flightradar24.com/post/3lfvhpgmqqc2...

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Kye ◴[17 Jan 25 00:28 UTC] No.42732706{4}[source]▶
Does SpaceX bother with NOTAM for its launches?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOTAM

It seems like the flights should have been planned around it so no diversion would be needed.

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sbuttgereit ◴[17 Jan 25 15:10 UTC] No.42738301{5}[source]▶
Actually, this video is a good indication for exactly what transpired:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6hIXB62bUE

It's ATC audio captured during the event.

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1. Kye ◴[17 Jan 25 15:20 UTC] No.42738434{6}[source]▶
This video, the map elsewhere in this subthread, and the stream recording give a nicely detailed view into what went down. It seems like everything went like it was supposed to in terms of pre-warning, but based on the video the information didn't make it to pilots with coinciding flight plans until after the fact.

As far as I understand airline pilots have a high level of authority and diverting probably was the right call depending on the lag between seeing it and knowing what it was or if there was a risk of debris reaching them. They wouldn't necessarily know how high it got or what that means for debris.

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2. sbuttgereit ◴[17 Jan 25 17:09 UTC] No.42740501[source]▶
Yeah... and ATC for a good while didn't have any estimate for time to resolution. So, do you run the airplane's fuel down to a minimal reserve level in hopes that the restrictions might lift... or just call it done and divert?

I think it's an absolutely reasonable choice to just say comfortably divert rather than try to linger in hopes of it not lasting too long and possibly ending up diverting anyway... but on minimums.