CatastrophicFailure

...then leave flight article in orbit as a private space station?

@sevenperforce ok Mr. Numbers Man, now I’m curious… as far as we know, could Atlas/Vulcan get similar lob altitudes with Starliner? whether Starliner would actually survive the trip is NOT the topic for discussion…

Right. Or perhaps, even... how much juice could be left in S2/Dragon stack if the did the nasty and expended the booster?

Busy news day. Has anyone run the numbers to see how much extra delta-V might be left in the Falcon upper stage after typical orbit insertion? Getting up there is probably a simple case of relighting the S2 or just burning longer during launch to boost apogee to that higher point while keeping a low, possibly very low, perigee. Wouldn't be that long of a mission, after all.

They're fake anyway.

Be ironic if China accidentally vaporizes their own Mün lander…

Burns more than the real thing...

As I understand it, the arrangements is specifically so that the bells can be fixed to structure, details unknown, to help support them. Musk mentioned this in the past. The engines on there now are likely as further developed and refined as S20 is to those older prototypes. And a full version 2.0 has already been spotted on site. Pretty sure there won’t be the same issues, if indeed they were issues.

It’s just a “rib,” and certainly braced as needed for the cutouts. Heck, having the engines fixed in place there might make the whole thing stronger.

Options there are pretty limited, places right on the coast tend to be windy… or hurricane-prone… or populated… it’s pick your poison. IIRC this whole system is supposed to be much more wind tolerant than a typical crane, but as this is the very first lift, they’re wisely using excessive caution. I reckon with all the lights they have there, wind is the greater concern.

Today Yesterday This weekend... recently... we had to have this beautiful 70-foot-tall Douglas fir taken down. (nifty timelapse coming soon)

This doesn’t make the rounds as much… might see OLIT tower bits going together in FL soon.

Sigh… …anyone seen mah teef?

Land booster on deck, deploy RoboKaren to talk to the manager captain. never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

Catharsis! took three whole trailerfulls of scrap that’s been plaguing me for years to the recycler. Pretty sure there was a whole motorcycle or two in there somewhere. As if in exclamation, there was a tiny, fragile little plant growing under all that junk in the end. Because it rains a lot here, and even old rusty metal turns green after a while. Speaking of which, @Fletch4 for Jeb’s sake I hope you got a tetanus shot too!

You mean like this? Yeah, be real careful about them royaly checks... especially the video game... Gotta wipe out the Chinese rover after it discovered the Moon House... just make it look like an accident...

Y tho? If he’s part of a crew one would think he’d be pre-cleared or some such.

Made the actual 56-mile tractor schlep to the dealer today. 46% driving efficiency yaaaay. But 4200+ lbs and solid as a rock the whole way. Offered to give a random Smart Car a lift too after we caught him staring in horror at a traffic light. Also, finally/had to do this: Kinda shocked, this charger is usually packed on a Friday afternoon. Rumor has it Elon himself reads these forums, so moar trailer-friendly chargers, plz.

Talking out my butt here but I don't know that it would, IIRC the 747 that flew into an ash cloud (at night) near Indonesia and became a temporary glided never saw it coming with their radar, so couldn't avoid it.

Interesting connection: last I heard they’re having trouble getting supplies into Tonga after the eruption specifically because the airports are all covered in ash, and the lingering airborne ash is really, really bad for airplanes. A bit overspecific but still a real-world use case for Starship P2P, all it would need was a clear, relatively flat LZ of sufficient size.

Achievement unlocked: TechnoRedneck Haveta schlep the tractor 50 miles to the dealer for some work next weekend, figured I’d get it loaded up and take a quick test drive for coffee. Could maybe scooch it a little farther back but it rides rock solid. Some guy nearly drifted right into us gawking.

That makes sense. Odd that the patch would say America rather than some permutation of US.

@DDE what’s up with “Steve Rogers’s” coat there? I’m guessing that shoulder patch says “America” in Cyrillic?

A ring of 6 engines PLUS grid fins PLUS RCS thrusters… roll authority should be the least of their worries.

I’ve gotta wait til Sunday to even get tested. Loads of fun.