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SpaceX seems to have mastered the belly flop. Landing is getting there.

Diederich 6y ago
> seems to have mastered the belly flop Seriously! They nailed that part on the first and every attempt. That by itself is pretty amazing.
emkoemko 6y ago
didn't the NASA have a rocket doing these type of manoeuvres multiple times a day? in like the early 90's?
- Diederich 6y ago
  That sounds pretty neat; I'd love to read more about it if you recall the name.
  - NikolaeVarius 6y ago
    The shuttle technically does a flop (it flies backward in orbit) and comes down via active control w/ aerodynamic surfaces. Not sure if that what poster means tho.
- Game_Ender 6y ago
  It was the Delta Clipper (DC-X) [0] and that was actually like the SpaceX, grasshopper. It stayed upright, translated hovered and came back to land. Starship has flaps, a low terminal velocity belly flop maneuver, and then a rotation up to landing only a few hundred meters up. They definitely build on each other, but this is more impressive. 0 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X
  - imglorp 6y ago
    Here's flight 8 from 1995. Up, translate, suicide burn, stuck the landing. I feel we missed a serious opportunity with DC-X.
    - baking 6y ago
      Thunderf00t recently made fun of SpaceX for failing to do what DC-X did in 1995, but he ignored the fuel savings of the belly flop followed by a brief burn. Doing it fuel efficiently is critical to practical reuse.
      - mlindner 6y ago
        Thunderf00t attacks any kind of progress. He nitpicks things that aren't important and ignores things that are important.
        sitkack 6y ago
        The slightly mirrored fresnel lens of the internet. My take is if someone is doing this, they are complaining about the overall lack of progress from an ancient achievement till now. They aren't wrong usually, but our flawed system doesn't make progress in that way.
mickdarling 6y ago
How well the Starship handles Hypersonic reentry and the belly flopping at speed will be spectacular to see.

> seems to have mastered the belly flop Seriously! They nailed that part on the first and every attempt. That by itself is pretty amazing.

emkoemko 6y ago

didn't the NASA have a rocket doing these type of manoeuvres multiple times a day? in like the early 90's?

Diederich 6y ago
That sounds pretty neat; I'd love to read more about it if you recall the name.
- NikolaeVarius 6y ago
  The shuttle technically does a flop (it flies backward in orbit) and comes down via active control w/ aerodynamic surfaces. Not sure if that what poster means tho.
Game_Ender 6y ago
It was the Delta Clipper (DC-X) [0] and that was actually like the SpaceX, grasshopper. It stayed upright, translated hovered and came back to land. Starship has flaps, a low terminal velocity belly flop maneuver, and then a rotation up to landing only a few hundred meters up. They definitely build on each other, but this is more impressive. 0 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X
- imglorp 6y ago
  Here's flight 8 from 1995. Up, translate, suicide burn, stuck the landing. I feel we missed a serious opportunity with DC-X.
  - baking 6y ago
    Thunderf00t recently made fun of SpaceX for failing to do what DC-X did in 1995, but he ignored the fuel savings of the belly flop followed by a brief burn. Doing it fuel efficiently is critical to practical reuse.
    - mlindner 6y ago
      Thunderf00t attacks any kind of progress. He nitpicks things that aren't important and ignores things that are important.
      - sitkack 6y ago
        The slightly mirrored fresnel lens of the internet. My take is if someone is doing this, they are complaining about the overall lack of progress from an ancient achievement till now. They aren't wrong usually, but our flawed system doesn't make progress in that way.

mickdarling 6y ago

How well the Starship handles Hypersonic reentry and the belly flopping at speed will be spectacular to see.