History, Politics And Current Affairs

I don't understand why reusing Booster-14 from test flight-7 for test flight-9 is important enough to warrant specific mention. They've been reusing boosters for years now. What is going on that makes this particular reuse of booster 14 so important? I strongly suspect there's information here that...

Belushi TD wrote: ↑Tue Apr 01, 2025 11:27 pm Why is this important?

Belushi TD

Booster re-use of Super-Heavy or Fram-2?

It is more and more appearing that SpaceX is going to re-use Booster-14 from test flight-7 for test flight-9.

The Starliner mission was a lot more dramatic than Boeing and NASA was letting on at the time, some scary stuff in this interview with the crew: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/04/the-harrowing-story-of-what-flying-starliner-was-like-when-its-thrusters-failed/ I had no idea it was this bad. &quo...

SpaceX just completed the first manned launch to Polar Orbit. Fram-2, private commercial launch.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/03/fram2-launch/

There's the question now, isn't it? It's the bane of all government procurement. From education to the DOD. I'm not sure what the answer is but having a visionary lead the company helps. These companies need a reason of their own to want to go to space. Something besides the actual, physical act of...

I can't decide if ULA/Boeing is a modern day WPA project or just a money laundering scheme. If we need a secondary launch capability I think NASA might be better served just selecting another start up. Paul At this point it’s hard to see why an alternative to SpaceX is needed. SpaceX is hitting it ...

Another question is, just what plans does NASA have for LEO beyond 2031 when they de-orbit the ISS? I know there will always be activity there but how much of it will be manned and how much time do we have to develop that back-up capability? Also, if there's no one stranded there and needing resupp...

Belushi TD wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 1:50 am Why are the ground crew in level A encapsulation suits? Does the X-37 have some kind of methyl-ethyl-bad stuff on board?

Belushi TD

Some type of nasty hypergolic like Monomethylhdrazine.

SpaceX has closed out the investigation for the Anomaly during the seventh test flight.
Flight test eight currently scheduled for NET Feb 28th.

https://www.spacex.com/updates/

Looks like the new crew tower at Slick forty at the Cape.

Scott Manley does a good job of doing a analysis of our options.

https://youtu.be/kK5IXX4p2d0?si=lJJf3HANd946esIZ

https://youtu.be/Esk1hg2knno?si=FqbDvPqM0APcyeaX

I seem to recall Stuart telling us at some point that "hardening" electronics induces about 10% on top of the cost, at least for milspec and aimed at EMP sort of things. Is this 10% surcharge similar for commercial/government space flight components? If not, why not? What's different abou...

At best, if everything actually worked, we’d be getting much more expensive kit that it often a full generation behind what we have off the shelf from SpaceX. SLS is a jobs program demanded by the Senate that NASA didn’t want and Boeing staffed with morons. Orion is an absolute cluster of malfuncti...

In further news Trump has gotten involved. The Starliner astronauts are still on the ISS. They are waiting for the crew-10 launch which has been delayed because NASA and SpaceX are certifying a new built Crew Dragon capsule. SpaceX does have other Crew Dragon capsules available. The reason that the ...

The Moss Landing facility is a very bad design. It is a large warehouse full of batteries with no firewall in-between those batteries or even sectioned off. So once you start having thermal runaway on a battery it will start propagating and the entire facility will go up. You need to plan on in the ...

SpaceX will figure out the root cause of the issue, make the necessary modifications to Starship and submit the mishap report to the FAA. Starship will be launching again out of Boca Chica with 3-months. I suspect that is an integral part of SpaceX culture. This was not a cheap failure but is only ...

SpaceX will figure out the root cause of the issue, make the necessary modifications to Starship and submit the mishap report to the FAA. Starship will be launching again out of Boca Chica with 3-months. I suspect that is an integral part of SpaceX culture. This was not a cheap failure but is only ...

Very well done by Blue Origin. New Glenn is a very capable rocket and if they can figure out the booster re-use portion it should be cost effective.

This one is going to be a problem I think. When you're having planes divert and even land this makes a lot of people sit up and take notice. Not to mention other countries you're fly over/near. I wonder if Starship ops will have to be moved to Florida. Not if Trump wants to have a phone call with A...