ThatGuyWithALongUsername

Starhopper preburner test (run gas through engine, but don't ignite) does seem to have occurred today. Spent 6 hours waiting for this on a webcam, and of course I left JUST in time to miss it... of course.

Well, for crewed ships at least, passengers will probably want a nice view of the planet. Maybe cargo ships would be oriented like this but not crewed ones? (Until preparing for reentry, of course)

Huh, that's strange. Not happening here.

Elon kinda gave the impression that it would in fact be polished, though.

Y'know, now that you mention it, I'm surprised nobody's done the math on this- taking the albedo of stainless steel and calculating exactly how bright this could be, in ideal conditions (also, how far from Earth would it still be visible?). I'd do it myself if I knew how to and had enough time.

So... Starship hit you, then? Good question, actually, it would DEFINITELY be visible, at least- probably more reflective than any spacecraft- drawing a line between space stations, satellites, and spacecraft here. One thing's for certain: that would be really, really cool.

The Daily Kerbal, Add-on Development, Welcome Aboard, Kerbal Network and The Lounge are the only forums I van enter, and I can't view most of the threads in them.

Also seeing this. Have yet to try all links.

Well, I think the plan was always to human-rate NG, and we know too little about NA to assume that it DOESN'T ultimately take people to the lunar surface...

Yes. This. Space is so cool, even random rocks or floating piles of rubble have active mini-volcanism, or are contact binary disc shaped, or have moons... etc. There's just so dang much to explore... we haven't even scratched the surface yet- and that's an understatement if anything! (I wonder if Ryugu has this, too, and if it doesn't maybe that will help us figure out what's causing this, given their similarities and differences)

Actually, I'm very confused on the whole hex tile thing. What are the hex tiles? Are they a temporary thing? What are hey made of? We need more answers- probably have to wait until we get a proper presentation.

GUYS IT'S HAPPENING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Specifically, the window is open from March 17-March 30, 22:30 - 2:30 UTC.

Yes, there is a DM-2 with people in it before the "operational" missions begin. Currently NET July (so probably late August- September at best)

I didn't even know this was still on the table- literally the only thing I'd ever heard about it was that it wasn't going to have SuperDraco thrusters but would otherwise be pretty much the same. Does anyone have any idea when we might see THAT launch?

What can I say? Now THAT was worth getting up at 2:30 AM for!

Wanna bet it gets delayed even more? This thing just can't seem to get off the ground... literally.

*Muon

You joke, but it is worth mentioning that NASA requires approval from congress before doing ANYTHING with China, including these photos. This happens very rarely. Also, here are the pictures for anyone who can't access twitter:

I think the Minotaur V is technically operational, as in if the US military wanted, they could probably buy a launch on it, but it's not especially useful and probably won't ever launch again (It flew once).

Aww yeah, a daylight launch. If it wasn't on a Wednesday, I'd probably go to Wallops to see it- it wouldn't be entirely unheard of if it got delayed to Saturday, would it? Even if it still launches on a weekday, I *might* be able to see SOMEthing...

That's not a ship. But two can play at this game... This is, uh, getting *slightly* off topic, isn't it... One could say the thread is getting...

While it's not anything like the starship, it is important to note that the space shuttle SRB's were carried by rail all the way from promontory to the Cape. NASA even has it's own shortline for handling them. Apparently the SLS SRB's will travel the same way. And then there's the Russians...

Well, we ARE getting 4014 this year, although obviously not from SpaceX...