bremidon t1_jcer24i wrote
Reply to comment by Thorhax04 in The Starship Startups by tectonic
Relax.
The most powerful rocket to ever fly that also just happens to be fully reuseable is going to take some time.
The SLS was based on 30-40 year old proven technology and *still* took over a decade to get off the ground. And we will have to wait for over a year to get a second flight. Granted, they are going to make it exciting by putting people inside...
Thorhax04 t1_jcetb9u wrote
It flew once, why wasn't it tested more?
bremidon t1_jcewf8o wrote
The SLS? Well, good question. Seems a bit adventurous to put people in it on its second flight, but hopefully NASA knows what they are doing.
The Starship? Only the Starship (the top part) flew and landed. The booster has never flown. When reading about Starship, you need to be careful. The entire thing is called Starship, but the orbital part (top part) is *also* called Starship. That makes understanding the news a bit tricky.
Tests for the Starship had a long pause while the bureaucrats figured out what to do with safety and the effects on the environment and so on. That went about as fast as such things go, frustrating as it is.
Theoretically they could have started testing again, but my guess is that they made so much progress while waiting for the OK they decided to just go for the orbital flight next.
SpaceX basically have all the needed tests finished. I'm not sure if they have an official OK to do the orbital, but I seem to remember reading that they do have it.
I guess now it is just a matter of dealing with unexpected problems as they pop up.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments