6 ms·

Parts falling off, engines going out, something getting inside the interstage. That ship was an absolute fighter.

by tjpnz 4y ago

eisvogel 4y ago
I was thinking this as well... It spiraled seemingly forever without failing, while they hoovered telemetry off of it, until pressing the big red button. Massive fault tolerance at play. SpaceX is awesome in so many ways. Thanks Elon.
- a4isms 4y ago
  Perhaps you mean, "Thanks Gwynne Shotwell." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell I think HN understands the difference between a charismatic leader who is good at laying out a vision and generating a tremendous amount of hype around it (like Steve Jobs) and someone who is an expert at actually realizing a vision (Steve Wozniak, Tim Cook). They may both be necessary for success, but if you are praising the rocket's engineering, you're praising the person who works tirelessly to manifest the vision.
  - PartiallyTyped 4y ago
    Thank you for sharing!
  - eisvogel 4y ago
    Shotwell is also awesome, that is certain. They all are. I personally think the first man down the ladder on mars should be a woman, and it would be great if it were her. However, Elon founded that company (and personally hired Shotwell) and has been a continual source of engineering inspiration, for several decades. His direction has pretty much forced the global automotive industry to go electric. People may not like some of the things he tweets, but at the end of the day, he is not going to be a historical footnote.
    - throwntoday 4y ago
      > I personally think the first man down the ladder on mars should be a woman Shouldn't it just be the commander of the mission? The way you speak is so condescending to women, as though they wouldn't have the ability to earn their place and it has to be handed to them. I can't speak to your intentions but it's not equality if you thought it was.
      - anon84873628 4y ago
        You're making the meritocracy argument and it is disingenuous. You don't have a monopoly on understanding "equality" and it is certainly not as simple in our society as you assume.
        nonethewiser 4y ago
        > You're making the meritocracy argument and it is disingenuous. You’d need to prove intent for that claim. Merit based seems fair to me.
        anon84873628 4y ago
        "seems fair to me" is hardly enough basis for a claim either. I did go on to state how it is impossible in our society today - do you actually disagree with that?
        throwntoday 4y ago
        Theres nothing disingenuous about thinking the person that earned the honor should be the one to do it. Your claim that I think I have a monopoly is disingenuous. GP stating it should be a woman, just for being a woman, is being disingenuous. Most women I know appreciate the "perks" of being a woman, but none of them are under any delusion about it. They would be insulted if they lost on equal footing, and were rewarded for it anyway. I've never met anyone who was happy knowing someone let them win. If you want to make an argument that men and women are never on equal footing, I could understand that but I'm not even sure what you are proposing instead.
  - DoneWithAllThat 4y ago
    I think HN likes to minimize the individual effort and success of great leaders because it plays against their personal beliefs. And I say this as someone who doesn’t like Musk very much.
    - Xelynega 4y ago
      The idea that "great leaders" exists is in itself a personal belief, isn't it? In my opinion "great leaders" are jobs that need to be done, not specific people. If Musk's personal characteristics make him viable to be a "great leader", there's at least a million other people that could have taken his place.
      - fasterik 4y ago
        Sometimes leaders get too much credit for what their team accomplishes, but I think it would be silly to deny that there are people who make unique contributions. Apple wouldn't have been Apple without Steve Jobs. SpaceX wouldn't be SpaceX without Elon Musk.
      - panick21_ 4y ago
        Funny then that almost no other space company comes close in terms of success. That many other rocket startups before SpaceX have totally failed even those with more finances then SpaceX. Europe makes a vastly inferior rocket for 3x the price. Maybe there are a million such people around, but apparently its very hard to find them.
  - throw-7462637 4y ago
    Life is not a zero sum game. Clearly Elon and Gwynne work very well together and Gwynne is a very talented operator. Both talents are essential but I do believe Elon’s talent would be harder to replace.
  - Dig1t 4y ago
    Elon also plays a big role in engineering. He has stated many times that most engineering decisions go directly through him. His title at the company is Founder and _Chief Engineer_
    - sp332 4y ago
      Ok could we maybe get a second opinion?
      - 93po 4y ago
        I'm an engineer. My second opinion is that Elon is a better engineer than me.
      - jpamata 4y ago
        This post quotes top SpaceX engineers like Tom Mueller, Kevin Watson, Garrett Reisman, Josh Boehm, and others like John Carmack about Musk's involvement in engineering: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
  - RoyGBivCap 4y ago
    Ah HN, where you can denigrate the hell out of anyone as long as you say it politely and sufficiently passive aggressively While clearly following obediently with the new "Elon Musk bad now" doctrine. Being blunt and direct is more virtuous through sheer honesty.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - nonethewiser 4y ago
    I’m have no doubts that she’s doing an incredible job but by all accounts Musk is intimately involved with the engineering in addition to being the head of the company. https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
- lm28469 4y ago
  > Thanks Elon. And the many many many other people actually conceiving the engines/rockets/&c.
dmix 4y ago
> something getting inside the interstage What does this mean?
- tjpnz 4y ago
  Based on the feed there was either some gas or debris flying around in the section between the two stages. At that altitude I don't think it could've been air.
  - dirkc 4y ago
    The answer almost always seems to be ice, or a stiffener.
moffkalast 4y ago
One or two engines looked like they actually exploded in flight, it just kept going like nothing happened. Absolutely amazing.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  It was great to see that they seemed unconcerned about 3 engines not lighting on launch. That's the sort of redundancy Starship is going to need to succeed in the way SpaceX are aiming for.
  - moffkalast 4y ago
    Well they already had a 1 engine out capability on F9, so scaling that ratio to Starship would be 3.6 engines, so it may be that it was in tolerance.
    - MaxikCZ 4y ago
      For roughly 10 seconds the telemetry reported 5 failed engines, then the last engine to fail re-ignited. But from the photos it looks like a total of 6 engines were off for longer period of time, 5 at the outer rim and 1 of the inner 3. Thats 6 of 33 engines out, or 18.18%. Incredible it was still accelerating upwards
      - RecycledEle 4y ago
        When 100% full of fuel, the stack has a thrust to weight ratio (TWR) of 1.5 (IIRC.)

Parts falling off, engines going out, something getting inside the interstage. That ship was an absolute fighter.

by tjpnz 4y ago

Parts falling off, engines going out, something getting inside the interstage. That ship was an absolute fighter.

I was thinking this as well... It spiraled seemingly forever without failing, while they hoovered telemetry off of it, until pressing the big red button. Massive fault tolerance at play. SpaceX is awesome in so many ways. Thanks Elon.

a4isms 4y ago
Perhaps you mean, "Thanks Gwynne Shotwell." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell I think HN understands the difference between a charismatic leader who is good at laying out a vision and generating a tremendous amount of hype around it (like Steve Jobs) and someone who is an expert at actually realizing a vision (Steve Wozniak, Tim Cook). They may both be necessary for success, but if you are praising the rocket's engineering, you're praising the person who works tirelessly to manifest the vision.
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  Thank you for sharing!
- eisvogel 4y ago
  Shotwell is also awesome, that is certain. They all are. I personally think the first man down the ladder on mars should be a woman, and it would be great if it were her. However, Elon founded that company (and personally hired Shotwell) and has been a continual source of engineering inspiration, for several decades. His direction has pretty much forced the global automotive industry to go electric. People may not like some of the things he tweets, but at the end of the day, he is not going to be a historical footnote.
  - throwntoday 4y ago
    > I personally think the first man down the ladder on mars should be a woman Shouldn't it just be the commander of the mission? The way you speak is so condescending to women, as though they wouldn't have the ability to earn their place and it has to be handed to them. I can't speak to your intentions but it's not equality if you thought it was.
    - anon84873628 4y ago
      You're making the meritocracy argument and it is disingenuous. You don't have a monopoly on understanding "equality" and it is certainly not as simple in our society as you assume.
      - nonethewiser 4y ago
        > You're making the meritocracy argument and it is disingenuous. You’d need to prove intent for that claim. Merit based seems fair to me.
        anon84873628 4y ago
        "seems fair to me" is hardly enough basis for a claim either. I did go on to state how it is impossible in our society today - do you actually disagree with that?
      - throwntoday 4y ago
        Theres nothing disingenuous about thinking the person that earned the honor should be the one to do it. Your claim that I think I have a monopoly is disingenuous. GP stating it should be a woman, just for being a woman, is being disingenuous. Most women I know appreciate the "perks" of being a woman, but none of them are under any delusion about it. They would be insulted if they lost on equal footing, and were rewarded for it anyway. I've never met anyone who was happy knowing someone let them win. If you want to make an argument that men and women are never on equal footing, I could understand that but I'm not even sure what you are proposing instead.
- DoneWithAllThat 4y ago
  I think HN likes to minimize the individual effort and success of great leaders because it plays against their personal beliefs. And I say this as someone who doesn’t like Musk very much.
  - Xelynega 4y ago
    The idea that "great leaders" exists is in itself a personal belief, isn't it? In my opinion "great leaders" are jobs that need to be done, not specific people. If Musk's personal characteristics make him viable to be a "great leader", there's at least a million other people that could have taken his place.
    - fasterik 4y ago
      Sometimes leaders get too much credit for what their team accomplishes, but I think it would be silly to deny that there are people who make unique contributions. Apple wouldn't have been Apple without Steve Jobs. SpaceX wouldn't be SpaceX without Elon Musk.
    - panick21_ 4y ago
      Funny then that almost no other space company comes close in terms of success. That many other rocket startups before SpaceX have totally failed even those with more finances then SpaceX. Europe makes a vastly inferior rocket for 3x the price. Maybe there are a million such people around, but apparently its very hard to find them.
- throw-7462637 4y ago
  Life is not a zero sum game. Clearly Elon and Gwynne work very well together and Gwynne is a very talented operator. Both talents are essential but I do believe Elon’s talent would be harder to replace.
- Dig1t 4y ago
  Elon also plays a big role in engineering. He has stated many times that most engineering decisions go directly through him. His title at the company is Founder and _Chief Engineer_
  - sp332 4y ago
    Ok could we maybe get a second opinion?
    - 93po 4y ago
      I'm an engineer. My second opinion is that Elon is a better engineer than me.
    - jpamata 4y ago
      This post quotes top SpaceX engineers like Tom Mueller, Kevin Watson, Garrett Reisman, Josh Boehm, and others like John Carmack about Musk's involvement in engineering: https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
- RoyGBivCap 4y ago
  Ah HN, where you can denigrate the hell out of anyone as long as you say it politely and sufficiently passive aggressively While clearly following obediently with the new "Elon Musk bad now" doctrine. Being blunt and direct is more virtuous through sheer honesty.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  I’m have no doubts that she’s doing an incredible job but by all accounts Musk is intimately involved with the engineering in addition to being the head of the company. https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/evidence_that_musk_is_the_chief_engineer_of_spacex/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
lm28469 4y ago
> Thanks Elon. And the many many many other people actually conceiving the engines/rockets/&c.

dmix 4y ago

> something getting inside the interstage What does this mean?

tjpnz 4y ago
Based on the feed there was either some gas or debris flying around in the section between the two stages. At that altitude I don't think it could've been air.
- dirkc 4y ago
  The answer almost always seems to be ice, or a stiffener.

moffkalast 4y ago

One or two engines looked like they actually exploded in flight, it just kept going like nothing happened. Absolutely amazing.

danpalmer 4y ago
It was great to see that they seemed unconcerned about 3 engines not lighting on launch. That's the sort of redundancy Starship is going to need to succeed in the way SpaceX are aiming for.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  Well they already had a 1 engine out capability on F9, so scaling that ratio to Starship would be 3.6 engines, so it may be that it was in tolerance.
  - MaxikCZ 4y ago
    For roughly 10 seconds the telemetry reported 5 failed engines, then the last engine to fail re-ignited. But from the photos it looks like a total of 6 engines were off for longer period of time, 5 at the outer rim and 1 of the inner 3. Thats 6 of 33 engines out, or 18.18%. Incredible it was still accelerating upwards
    - RecycledEle 4y ago
      When 100% full of fuel, the stack has a thrust to weight ratio (TWR) of 1.5 (IIRC.)