That was strange, given that only one thing was cut and pasted, and I have the standard clipboard. Fixed, in any case.
Actually, a rotation was scheduled for the booster, followed by a "boost back" burn. A little "kick" prior to stage separation was also scheduled. Looks as if all of the above happened with Starship still attached. Normally a rocket destroys itself when tumbling; this did not, but it also appeared as if the mains were still firing.
RUD, or "rapid unscheduled disassembly", has been used more than once for a SpaceX launch. I believe it's a model rocket term, from the Large and Dangerous club.
Actually, it was nothing like that, unless your goals was merely to pull out of the driveway, and you didn't really care if you got to work (or survived).The stated goal was that clearing the tower was a success and anything after that was gravy. That’s like saying getting t-boned after pulling out of your driveway was a successful drive to work.
They have several ships near completion, and literally hundreds of engines; this rocket was disposable in any case, it just went away a bit prematurely.
Or as R/C modelers say, "return to kit form" or simply "rekitting".
That's a spectacular way to avoid paying the disposal fee.
Should have run it through ChatGPT ...
It was supposed to just be a "kick", but as it didn't separate, and some engines were out anyway, it kept a tumblin'.
....oh...thats what they are doing?
That's what they always do. All of their testing is available online; in fact, you can set up your own cameras and stream it. They tested many Raptor engines to destruction. Rapidly started and stopped them. Over-pressured vessels until they popped. Put bits in a hydraulic "can crusher" to mimic dynamic forces. They can do it so much more cheaply than NASA it's pitiful. The estimated cost for a Starship launch tower ("Stage 1") is 10% of what NASA is paying a contractor for theirs. And SpaceX has built three of them.
I was referring to the rockets that explode in flight..
It doesn't look like it blew up on its own. Staging failed and they blew up both vehicles with the flight termination system.
Now NASA is so conservative that progress is extremely slow and expensive. A very quiet, slow, and boring form of failure.
Pioneers take the arrows. NASA did its development work WITHOUT sixty years of industry experience, or catalogs of standard parts.
