CatastrophicFailure

And here I thought the Powers that Be just wanted to commemorate the year of the first moon landing.

Same boat. I get relieved right around that time, a 30-minute delay would be welcome. But it’s the other guy’s day to drive so I can at least phone it.

What we’ll see next year will be far from a finished product, probably little more than a shell with fuel tanks and minimum engines. But flight hardware is flight hardware.

Hello? Hello? Information? Quick, what’s the temperature in hell?! Just seeing that beast leave the hangar the first time will be an experience!

You must video this. ಠ_ಠ

Thermal curtain failure!

Still grinning here. I keep seeing this go off in super-slomo to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

The ground better get out of its way, if the ground knows what’s good for it...

DONE! sort of

Well, there’s still a few hundred pounds of hydrazine, but yeah... I was just watching a thing about a Titan missile explosion in Georgia back during the Cold War. They were stored fully fueled (because we were all a bit MAD back then...), and a technician dropped a great big socket down the silo that pierced the fuel tank, and one thing led to another. Now presumably modern man-rated boosters are a bit more thick skinned, but it seems like common sense to me that having as few people as possible around a fully fueled rocket is the safer bet.

Year 10, Day 17... Getting back into the swing of things now... ...which has nothing to do with Vlad being swung around by an enraged, irregular elephant... The NewShip design has served our crewed program well, but despite the name is already showing its age. And with the more... interesting... developments on the horizon, the engineering team has begun designs on our next-generation crew transport. However, this is not that. What this is, is several proof-of-concept demonstrations, depending upon what the definition of is, um, is. Now, to come up with a name... Oh, and actually build the thing...

This guy gets it... And then there’s this... yes, of course it’s going to get delayed from Monday. Since I happen to have Monday off.

Apparently things are happening...

Giant party balloon, mayhap? So... only three days between static fire and launch, if all goes well... have they ever done a turnaround that short before? Usually it's closer to a week. Seems odd, considering how many times they've delayed just the SF, but if the barge is barging they're obviously committed.

Mmmm, yes. They oughtta leave the fairings unpainted, too. so, how many Bothans died to bring us this information?

IIRC production on the old Dragon has ceased, new production will be all D2. But they’ve still got all the old Dragon spaceframes to refurbish for a couple flights each, so that’s probably where 2021 is coming from.

Well, given it’s owner, it sort of is...

That there is unpainted carbon composite. Saves weight, but probably mostly to look bad-S.

Found a better pic.

I think this launch might be getting more hype than Falcon Heavy...

I see @VelocityPolaris found something to read. I just hope he’s read the other two first, or major spoilers.

On the contrary, I think you’ve done this incredibly well. It’s like a well-seasoned meal, adding flavor without overwhelming the meat of the subject, which is extra important in a story like yours where the World is a character. And like you said, in-universe it just works. Myself, now... Like @KSK I found a mapp, which in itself sounds like the beginning to a story... ...and I decided to go with it, as... odd... as some of the borders are, which has influenced the story itself more and more as I went along. I have entire histories (and pre-histories) of some cultures in my own head-cannon, and one might say I’ve even embraced the cliché... Heck, I’ve gone way beyond embracing, we’d be legally married in 17 states. and illegally married in 32 others...

Hah, hah, dontgetmestarted. ಠ_ಠ Knowing Elon, there will probably be an entire wheel of it, in its own bin clearly marked “DUCK TAPE“ right between the “FOOD” and “NOT FOOD” bins. Boeing, however, will have standardized packages stored in sub-bin 34L, bin 19: sector 4, panel 12, complete with use checklist and MSDS and clearly marked in industry-standard ANSI-approved type, “TAPE, DUCT.”