Super Heavy-Starship launches on sixth test flight, skips tower catch
Super Heavy-Starship launches on sixth test flight, skips tower catch
spaceflightnow.com
Super Heavy-Starship launches on sixth test flight, skips tower catch – Spaceflight Now
6 comments
6 comments
Better to destroy one booster than risk the damage to the launch pad or chopsticks, I suppose. I'll be curious to hear what the cause of the abort was.
The reduced heatshield on the ship held up impressively well.
Yeah my guess from the very limited information I have is the abort-to-spashdown decision was probably automated, so I'm extremely interested to hear why they aborted the catch. It feels a bit at odds with the ambition to catch a starship soon, but if their code is so conservative about aborted catches, it seems realistic to at least try
I believe the booster can’t return to the pad unless it’s explicitly told to from the ground (so if it loses contact, it will crash safely).
During the stream, they said that the very specific criteria for a recapture attempt were not met. They didn’t say what that criteria was.