Kerwood Floyd

The thing about the N-1 that jars for me is how the stages aren't mostly cylindrical, like I'm used to.

Did I miss something? It seems to me that SpaceX need to keep doing the SS 10k hops until they figure out what's up with the fires inside the skirt after landing.

I think the point is that most of the time since 1957 the upper stages have fallen down in such a way that we knew they were falling in the ocean far from inhabited areas, and indeed, far from busy shipping lanes. This time we have only a vague idea where it's coming down.

I am a big fan of SpaceX, and am amazed at what they have accomplished so far, but I am going to believe they can do all that only when I see it actually happen.

It might help to read this wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_(cosmology)

Fair enough. But there is still the question whether heavy water is available, even in a lab, in sufficiently pure form for this to prove fatal.

This sounds fishy to me. Why can't the body use heavy water? I suppose that if every single hydrogen atom in every single water molecule was deuterium instead of protium, then that might be a problem. But as I understand it, "heavy water" is merely water with a higher than natural proportion of deuterium, but still in absolute terms a relatively low proportion. How high a proportion of deuterium would be necessary to render the water unusable?

A market is required because the shareholders of Boeing and Airbus, etc. require it. Arguably, as long as Musk has the money, SpaceX can produce thousands of Starships without there being a market, but simply because Musk wants to.

This article is awfully light on details, but sounds intriguing: https://news.sky.com/story/new-concept-for-rocket-thruster-exploits-the-mechanism-behind-solar-flares-12202285 Does anybody know anything more about this proposal?

Cheer up! It's not all that bad. They'll fly sooner or later

Well, my understanding is that the German scientists and technicians that didn't go to the US in Paperclip and instead went to the USSR were put to work, much like their US-bound counterparts.. Although I believe I've read that the Soviet space program relied on their German imports to a much less degree than did the US program.

Ok then. Thanks

I asked because it wasn't clear to me how properly it followed the planned ascent. I didn't know if both of the engine outages during the ascent were planned. If they weren't then it probably fell significantly short of 12.5 km. On the other hand if it actually came within a margin of error of 12.5 km then I guess they were planned.

Has anyone heard how high it actually got?

I find Science too technical. For my own reading I prefer SciAm but if I wanted to interest young'uns I'd go with Discover. YMMV.