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SLS has had one fully functional operational flight, where it deployed satellites in lunar orbit. Starship has had 0 operational flights, and a bunch of dummy t
by tsimionescu 8mo ago
SLS has had one fully functional operational flight, where it deployed satellites in lunar orbit. Starship has had 0 operational flights, and a bunch of dummy test flights without payload and without even attempting to reach LEO.
- margalabargala 8mo agoSure, but it's a bit disingenuous to one one hand have one successful flight, and on the other hand 11 test flights of varying success (reaching space but not orbit) and dismiss the latter because the former has technically flown infinitely many times more successful real flights. The absolute value is so low, 1 vs zero.
- tsimionescu 8mo agoYou can take another tack then - kilometers traveled (while in control of the rocket) multiplied by payload. This should be a more comparable metric, and the conclusion will be the same without the pesky 0: Starship tests have flown only a fraction of what SLS has achieved in its single successful flight.
- margalabargala 8mo agoWhy do you think that's a more comparable metric? One of these rockets has flown one production flight, the other has flown 11 test flights. If you pick a metric that blatantly is measuring "production launches" you've decided the outcome before you look at it. You're arguing with the same intellectual honestly of someone saying Starship is 11x better because it has left the ground 11x more times.