But can they build a city on Rock and Roll?
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"Unplanned Dismantling"
- Thread starter YamadudeXS650C
- Start date
next " it's gonna launch" date.
A man who is prepared to litteraly burn through $BILLONS to achieve his aims.
There are non $ rewards but I will bet there is a path to monetize this endeavour for share holders. I am tempted to invest a little $ in the endeavor. My greatgrandchildren might reap the benefits.
I'm definately not one to give advice on shares.
Musk talks a big game and sounds great.
We're off to mars.
Now it's the moon first.
His starship can't get to the moon without refueling. He has to build a refueling station in orbit, then he has to develop test a actually transfer fuel to the fuel station then test and transfer to his space ship. That is years away. .never been done and even he has said that is going to b hard to do.
If Elon tells you it is hard, then he knows it is going to have a lot of problems. Problems eat up time and resources
ETD 21 May 2026 5:30 PM Central time....
Go Starship!
Go Starship!
A pretty good 8 minute analysis of flight 12
SpaceX synopsis;
Starship's Twelfth Flight Test
On Friday, May 22, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its twelfth flight test. This was the first flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, the Raptor 3 engines, the first flight from Pad 2, and the first Starship flight to deploy modified Starlink satellites to image Starship in space.
The flight test began with Super Heavy igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. A single Raptor engine shut down during ascent. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver, with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to continue its flight to space.
Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver and attempted its boostback burn. It was unable to light all planned engines and performed a partial boostback burn that ended early. Super Heavy attempted to reignite its engines for the landing burn before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf of America.
During its ascent burn to space, Starship lost one of the Raptor 3 vacuum engines but demonstrated its engine-out capability and achieved its planned trajectory.
During coast, Starship successfully deployed all 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites that imaged Starship in space. These simulators and modified Starlink satellites were on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.
Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was able to gather critical data on the performance of its heatshield and structural strength. In the final minutes of flight, Starship performed a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly. Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean, and executed a landing flip, landing burn, and splashdown on two Raptor engines.
SpaceX synopsis;
Starship's Twelfth Flight Test
On Friday, May 22, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its twelfth flight test. This was the first flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, the Raptor 3 engines, the first flight from Pad 2, and the first Starship flight to deploy modified Starlink satellites to image Starship in space.
The flight test began with Super Heavy igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. A single Raptor engine shut down during ascent. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver, with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to continue its flight to space.
Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver and attempted its boostback burn. It was unable to light all planned engines and performed a partial boostback burn that ended early. Super Heavy attempted to reignite its engines for the landing burn before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf of America.
During its ascent burn to space, Starship lost one of the Raptor 3 vacuum engines but demonstrated its engine-out capability and achieved its planned trajectory.
During coast, Starship successfully deployed all 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites that imaged Starship in space. These simulators and modified Starlink satellites were on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.
Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was able to gather critical data on the performance of its heatshield and structural strength. In the final minutes of flight, Starship performed a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly. Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean, and executed a landing flip, landing burn, and splashdown on two Raptor engines.
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Dark matter and dark energy account for 95% of the universe, but we still know even less about them than where all your missing socks went. NASA’s new space telescope could help scientists learn more.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (named after NASA’s first chief astronomer) launched into space yesterday atop a SpaceX rocket toward an observation point about 1 million miles from Earth, where it will survey the cosmos like never before:
Its field of view is more than 100 times wider than Hubble’s—and its camera is much faster. It can observe in a month what it would have taken Hubble a century to do, the Associated Press reported.
Roman has a special instrument to block out starlight, making it easier to image planets orbiting other stars.
The telescope’s main mirror was repurposed from a powerful spy satellite donated by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Roman’s ultimate goals are to 1) shed light on the enigmatic nature of dark energy and 2) understand more about the many Earth-like planets that scientists theorize are out there. “Roman’s vast reach will allow us to find the weird, the rare, and the unusual,” a senior project scientist told the AP.
The Roman candle was almost unlit. The Trump administration proposed canceling the $4.3 billion project as part of budget cuts before Congress stepped in to fund it.—AE
They did not attempt to recover the center core, it was planned to be expended from the start. Roman is a relatively heavy payload (~10 tons) headed to Sun-Earth L2, a high-energy trajectory that requires more performance than a typical low-Earth or geostationary insertion. The two side boosters separate much earlier, so they still have enough fuel for a boost-back burn and a return-to-launch-site landing. The center core stays attached longer, flies faster and farther downrange, and therefore cannot make it back to a landing zone or drone ship without sacrificing payload performance. SpaceX has used this same “partially expendable” profile on other deep-space Falcon Heavy missions. Reserving the extra propellant for a center-core landing burn would have left the rocket short of the energy needed to put the telescope on that path.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (named after NASA’s first chief astronomer) launched into space yesterday atop a SpaceX rocket toward an observation point about 1 million miles from Earth, where it will survey the cosmos like never before:
Its field of view is more than 100 times wider than Hubble’s—and its camera is much faster. It can observe in a month what it would have taken Hubble a century to do, the Associated Press reported.
Roman has a special instrument to block out starlight, making it easier to image planets orbiting other stars.
The telescope’s main mirror was repurposed from a powerful spy satellite donated by the National Reconnaissance Office.
Roman’s ultimate goals are to 1) shed light on the enigmatic nature of dark energy and 2) understand more about the many Earth-like planets that scientists theorize are out there. “Roman’s vast reach will allow us to find the weird, the rare, and the unusual,” a senior project scientist told the AP.
The Roman candle was almost unlit. The Trump administration proposed canceling the $4.3 billion project as part of budget cuts before Congress stepped in to fund it.—AE
They did not attempt to recover the center core, it was planned to be expended from the start. Roman is a relatively heavy payload (~10 tons) headed to Sun-Earth L2, a high-energy trajectory that requires more performance than a typical low-Earth or geostationary insertion. The two side boosters separate much earlier, so they still have enough fuel for a boost-back burn and a return-to-launch-site landing. The center core stays attached longer, flies faster and farther downrange, and therefore cannot make it back to a landing zone or drone ship without sacrificing payload performance. SpaceX has used this same “partially expendable” profile on other deep-space Falcon Heavy missions. Reserving the extra propellant for a center-core landing burn would have left the rocket short of the energy needed to put the telescope on that path.
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Fascinating.
Some veddy interesting background on the scope and it's tangled roots. Spy vs Spy stuff
(this may be behind a paywall)
https://sciencespectrumu.com/nasas-latest-great-telescope-2a23df9454d3
(this may be behind a paywall)
https://sciencespectrumu.com/nasas-latest-great-telescope-2a23df9454d3
MikeyDeepXS
Livin’ in XS
If an XS has a unplanned dismantling while on the highway, should we call it a success?
Asking for a friend
Asking for a friend
More like an ex-ex-ess.
Live feed of 9/28/ launch attempt
All major objectives completed, synopsis:
"
September 28, 2026
The mission began with the Super Heavy booster igniting all of its 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. During the initial climb to space, a single Raptor engine on the booster shutdown. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver and Starship’s upper stage igniting all six of its Raptor engines to continue onward to space.
Super Heavy performed its directional flip maneuver and relit 31 of the planned 33 Raptor engines for the boostback burn. The boostback maneuver on this flight was intentionally designed to burn through the remaining liquid oxygen inside the booster’s main tank to test the limits of booster performance ahead of future return to launch site missions. The booster then reignited 11 of the planned 13 engines for the high-thrust portion of the landing burn before down-selecting to five engines for trajectory fine-tuning, and then down to three engines before splashing down in the Gulf. Upon landing burn shutdown, the Super Heavy’s flight termination system was triggered in a demonstration of the safety hardware.
During Starship’s ascent burn, a single Raptor vacuum engine shut down early. Starship still achieved its planned, passively safe suborbital trajectory by burning its remaining five engines for longer than planned to compensate for the loss of thrust.
After entering its suborbital trajectory, the flight control team assessed Starship’s systems and determined the three sea-level Raptors engines needed for subsequent burns were healthy and gave a “go” for orbital operations. Starship then reignited a single Raptor sea-level engine to perform an orbit insertion burn and entered into orbit around Earth for the first time.
After a brief coast, Starship then deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Contact was made soon after with every satellite over laser links, ground stations, and Starlink user terminals. The satellites will now conduct on-orbit checkouts and raise their orbits before they begin serving customers.
Following payload deploy, Starship entered into a coast phase around Earth. Out of an abundance of caution given the engine issue experienced during ascent, the flight control team decided to limit the duration spent on orbit and proceeded with deorbiting Starship to a splashdown location in the northern Pacific Ocean. This area was one of two pre-coordinated landing zones identified before launch that was cleared of sea and air traffic.
Starship then relit a single Raptor sea-level engine and performed its first ever deorbit burn. That maneuver successfully brought the vehicle out of orbit and sent Starship through atmospheric reentry and descent to the intended splashdown point.
The first orbital Starship flight concluded with the vehicle relighting all three Raptor sea-level engines in a landing burn and flip maneuver before splashing down on target in the Pacific Ocean."
"
September 28, 2026
Starship Flight 14
On Monday, September 28 at 7:48 a.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its 14th flight and first attempt to go to orbit. This was the first orbital Starship flight and the first to deliver meaningful payload to orbit with 26 Starlink V3 satellites.The mission began with the Super Heavy booster igniting all of its 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. During the initial climb to space, a single Raptor engine on the booster shutdown. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver and Starship’s upper stage igniting all six of its Raptor engines to continue onward to space.
Super Heavy performed its directional flip maneuver and relit 31 of the planned 33 Raptor engines for the boostback burn. The boostback maneuver on this flight was intentionally designed to burn through the remaining liquid oxygen inside the booster’s main tank to test the limits of booster performance ahead of future return to launch site missions. The booster then reignited 11 of the planned 13 engines for the high-thrust portion of the landing burn before down-selecting to five engines for trajectory fine-tuning, and then down to three engines before splashing down in the Gulf. Upon landing burn shutdown, the Super Heavy’s flight termination system was triggered in a demonstration of the safety hardware.
During Starship’s ascent burn, a single Raptor vacuum engine shut down early. Starship still achieved its planned, passively safe suborbital trajectory by burning its remaining five engines for longer than planned to compensate for the loss of thrust.
After entering its suborbital trajectory, the flight control team assessed Starship’s systems and determined the three sea-level Raptors engines needed for subsequent burns were healthy and gave a “go” for orbital operations. Starship then reignited a single Raptor sea-level engine to perform an orbit insertion burn and entered into orbit around Earth for the first time.
After a brief coast, Starship then deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Contact was made soon after with every satellite over laser links, ground stations, and Starlink user terminals. The satellites will now conduct on-orbit checkouts and raise their orbits before they begin serving customers.
Following payload deploy, Starship entered into a coast phase around Earth. Out of an abundance of caution given the engine issue experienced during ascent, the flight control team decided to limit the duration spent on orbit and proceeded with deorbiting Starship to a splashdown location in the northern Pacific Ocean. This area was one of two pre-coordinated landing zones identified before launch that was cleared of sea and air traffic.
Starship then relit a single Raptor sea-level engine and performed its first ever deorbit burn. That maneuver successfully brought the vehicle out of orbit and sent Starship through atmospheric reentry and descent to the intended splashdown point.
The first orbital Starship flight concluded with the vehicle relighting all three Raptor sea-level engines in a landing burn and flip maneuver before splashing down on target in the Pacific Ocean."
MikeyDeepXS
Livin’ in XS
No unplanned dismantling today?
Well according to the evening press here .Maybe not the best source but on the other hand with a history of having " Ba**s"
The flight was stopped short and upon landing fell over and caught fire It cannot have been a case of planned engineered landing
Would not have been for an aircraft and afterwards it would have been classified as an accident ..and not being in one piece
Unplanned -Check
Dismantling -Check
Landing in water lets see what happens
Traditional liquid and solid rocket fuels contain highly toxic chemicals like hydrazine, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), and ammonium perchlorate, which pose severe risks to human health and the environment.
Arrested for Polluting ? ??
Having said that complex engineering projects can go wrong a learning curve but can also be impossible. Not done the read up .But it can be that these are bigger rockets .. Never used before ..
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MikeyDeepXS
Livin’ in XS
the unplanned part is a bit open for interpretation it seems. I say that because it actually rather appears that spacex plans to pollute a bunch of trash and toxic waste in the ocean, by design
MikeyDeepXS
Livin’ in XS
It’d be a lot cooler to watch videos like that on a fiber connection, and not slow and unreliable starlink
