** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Penfold101 said:
When Starliner is released from the booster, it’s not in a stable orbit. If the thrusters fail to fire, it’ll passively re-enter the atmosphere of its own accord. I don’t know what happens if they all fail halfway through the circularisation burn but seeing as the ISS still orbits inside the atmosphere and has to boost itself back up on a regular basis it would eventually do a full re-entry. I’ve no idea how long that would take though.

NASA will have thought of this though - there were plans for all stages of engine failure in the Space Shuttle ascent profile, and runways around the world it could land on. The Apollo capsule had multiple ways to be separated from the lander when it left the moon, and the engine was a hypergolic one which needed no ignition system to keep it as simple as possible.

No-one is YOLOing space…
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The safety measures, all the variables factored in, the relability, the backup systems, it's mind boggling to think of how many things are put in place for these missions.
 
LostCorpse said:
THOUGHT THIS WAS INTERESTING
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Musk just did an interview and claimed they knew the flaps were likely to burn up, he says hot gasses getting inside the hinges is a high risk item on their list. He says he is surprised the flap managed to survive, he thought they were going to completely lose the ship.


musk also says starship missed its landing target by 6km, he he still wants to try catching it with the tower next time

If they are serious it would be sometime till the next launch because they won't attempt a catch until they've built a backup tower
 
Grim5 said:
Musk just did an interview and claimed they knew the flaps were likely to burn up, he says hot gasses getting inside the hinges is a high risk item on their list. He says he is surprised the flap managed to survive, he thought they were going to completely lose the ship.


musk also says starship missed its landing target by 6km, he he still wants to try catching it with the tower next time

If they are serious it would be sometime till the next launch because they won't attempt a catch until they've built a backup tower
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Surely that has to be Musk bravado? You can't miss the target for 6km and then attempt to land it where the margin for error is likely measured in less than 5m.
 
Booster and StarShip are different things. It could be "lost in translation". StarShip with the burning up flaps missed by 6km. But they are going to attempt a cvatch with Super Heavy.
 
It was stated that the main aim for this mission was to survive atmospheric re-entry. Also there were a few purposely removed tiles/bare steel with sensors to measure temperature and effects of heating on sections where tiles may be lost. Has there been any mention of whether the flap that suffered had been one of those locations? Or if it was purely insufficient thermal protection in that area?

Colonel_Klinck said:
Ah ok. Do we know how close Super Heavy came to its target?
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So far I dont think it has been mentioned. If they are talking about catching I'd hope its well within tolerance. If they follow through with that, it will make exciting viewing either way.
 
Sad news - Bill Anders, LMP of Apollo 8 and taker of the iconic 'Earthrise' photo, dies at 90 in a plane crash.

Apollo 8 was a truly wild mission - take a spacecraft with one successful flight in low Earth orbit behind it, strap it to the biggest rocket built to that point that no-one has ridden yet (and that doesn't have a spotless test record), fly it all the way to the Moon to do 10 laps and then come home. Lots of entertaining opportunities for death, and yet the mission mostly came off without a serious hitch.

He inspired generations with that photograph. That's some kind of legacy. Godspeed William Anders.
 
Its going to be absolutely mindblowing to see this RTLS. Cant wait for the next test flight. If they do actually go for a grab next time, I think there will be a strong possibility of mishap:eek: I reckon some eggs will need to be cracked before this omelette is ready. There is just some much going on, so many variables.
 
Colonel_Klinck said:
It must have been pretty close to its target for that camera to video that.
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Like a Falcon, but bigger - it makes sense they managed to get that to work on the second try given they landed the 300th F9 today. The first twin landing from the Heavy in 2018 is still amazing to watch.

Whatever happens on the first grab attempt will be spectacular!
 
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