SpaceX's Starship Catch Was One Second from Abort and Crash!

Welcome back my friends to a week of incredible progress. Much of which I certainly wasn’t expecting. We are rocketing toward Starship flight test 6 faster than you may think, and with that, all the astounding activity required to make that happen as we get even more insight into Flight Test 5 less than two weeks ago. Indeed, Elon almost seemed to leak a conversation where it was said that SpaceX's Starship Catch Was One Second from Disaster due to a a misconfigured spin gas support that didn't have quite the right ramp up time. Musk's reply was simply... "WOW!" 😆 (while playing Diablo IV). Added to that the busy week in all things space, and we as always it seems, have so much to jump into.

Engineer/Musk discussion on X

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[Secretlyanothername]

I like how the title is an actual direct quote from the SpaceX employee. Not clickbait, just the facts

[CharlieCushing]

Stuff happens pretty quick during landing. One second could be an eternity, or a razor-thin margin.

[joakimlindblom]

Note that the main design improvement of the forward flaps to improve survivability is to offset the flap attachments to one side so that the hinges aren't in the direct airflow path during reentry, which should dramatically reduce the heat loading of the hinges.

[steventerry]

one second from disaster....isn't that always true with rockets?

[pixelwash]

Lots of extra stuff not covered elsewhere, thank you, that info on the valves under the broken panel, the medical condition of the returning NASA astronaut, the video of the second stage from the fairing's view, Blue Origin news, Axiom moonsuits, multistart Raptor tests, the list of extra information went on and on, great work.

[Gilgwathir]

I still can't believe how much heat and force those Raptors throw out the back and that SpaceX built a structure that can (somewhat) withstand that torture. Add the recent catch and it's even more incredible, yet still it is very real.

[nbnetrum]

You know it's a slow week when Blue Origin gets a mention.

[ThePinkus]

3:05 "...but listen to this" and right then YT drops an advertisement. Such an uncanny coincidence...

[ChrisMarshallUS]

The fact that the competitors and NROL have no issues with previously flown boosters shows just how far Falcon 9 has come.

[peter-hrgl]

SpaceX is the first space company to provide a window into the development/design process. Boeing, Northrup Grumman, etc. would NEVER have provided this level of visibility to their development process. I will give SpaceX credit for that. Therefore, people are very ignorant of that process. In the past they've only had visuals of the 'finished product' (think the moon missions and Challenger missions). So I can see why people today think these SpaceX vehicles are 'the finished product' and they cannot see how this starship and booster could carry a payload, carry humans, etc.
They don't know this is literally one of who knows how many TEST FLIGHTS, each of which will lead to further development and eventually a flight ready finished Starship and booster. They may even launch a few of THEIR Starlink V2 satellites using a TEST booster and Starship because if everything crashes and burns, it doesn't impact anybody but themselves financially. They won't be sending any external customer payloads up using Starship and booster until they have 'production ready' vehicles.
So hopefully you can continue to reiterate this concept to the uninitiated of your subscribers who may not be thinking in this way and criticizing SpaceX for not doing MORE at this point. Personally I won't be surprised if the next booster landing attempt crashes and burns (literally and figuratively) due to something unforeseen that didn't happen on flight 5.

[robfive]

Another great fact packed roundup
Certainly exciting times ahead. .
Thank you MH +Team for all the hard work

[CumulusGranitis]

WOW !!! Well done Marcus. 1st with the facts. That conversation with Musk and his engineers is a level of Openness we would never see from other spacecraft manufacturers. ONE Second from and abort to a crash landing. As of 15:45 UTC (Saturday) non of the other content creators have caught wind of this scoop. Well done Marcus.

[saintuk]

With the audio re "1 second from failure", despite the damage to the chines etc etc the booster still completed it's task and is a good indication of how robust things are. Bit like in WW2, aeroplanes would return to base missing parts and shot to pieces, it showed designers they got it right and to focus in other areas.

[myronp]

Now Space X knows it can be done.Improvements are the next step.All the other rockets went through the same evolution

[Inspace_noone_can_hear_u_honk.]

Funny that in the near future you might be talking regularly about Starship launches like you currently talk about Falcon.

[wonderboy]

I was speechless when that first catch happened, and it looks like another will happen soon! Can’t wait!

[BrackenSharp]

As always, thanks again! Saturday space news with my morning coffee will never get old.

Looks like there's some bot comments, but then again, when is there not.

[andygardiner]

Given the final "ad" specs of the Axiom suit that includes "Boots Engineered to Withstand Lunar Temps and Rough Terrain". Isn't that the basic requirement for any footwear on the moon? I do feel that a pair of furry carpet slippers wouldn't quite cut the mustard!

[quinto]

That Raptor test (at 12:50 min) is very cool. They are really making the engines ready for passenger flight to other planets!

[Wellorep]

It's a testament to the materials and engineering in this machine, and the starship. Watching the wing pits melt off and still land in a relatively accurate position last launch and this launch; the booster, skin blowing off, nozzles and grid fins warping still gets caught. Just amazing.