[Shadowmuse Blown]

Speaking of Apollo, I came across some great pix taken during Apollo, each with the Earth in the background.  Here’s the first one with the LEM in the foreground.

Here’s another

Another

One more, apparently taken from the lunar rover.

[solvegas]

And people on Earth talk about how long light and darkness lasts in both the North and South pole here on Earth. 

[SamV]

And people on Earth talk about how long light and darkness lasts in both the North and South pole here on Earth. 

Yeah that's because Uranus is the only planet in the solar system whose polar axis is tilted like 98 degrees so it is like Uranus is rolling on it side as it obits the sun.    

[Shadowmuse Blown]

The cargo version of Sierra Space’ Tenacity is all done and ready to be shipped to Ohio for NASA environmental testing.  From there it’ll head to Florida ahead of its 2024 launch to resupply the ISS.

Sierra Space is readying two cargo versions ahead of two human rated spaceships, which will hopefully will be used to ferry astronauts to the ISS among many other applications.

[solvegas]

 

[SamV]

Of the outer planets Jupiter and Saturn were studied by both Voyager space craft as they went past those two planets but only Voyager 2 did a fly-by of Uranus and Neptune, so there are still a lot off questions about those two outer gas giants. Now with NASA's James Web telescope we will get a chance to learn a whole lot more about those two huge blue "marbles" - like: "Do diamonds form and rain down in the atmosphere only to burn-up as they go ever deeper?" To find out check out "Gravity Assist: It’s Raining Diamonds on These Planets" (https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/gravity-assist/gravity-assist-its-raining-diamonds-on-these-planets) 

[Shadowmuse Blown]

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has completed its investigation.  The Federal Aviation Administration has issued SpaceX a launch license.

A Temporary Flight Restriction has been called for this Friday, November 17th in anticipation of approval.  Launch window opens at 7am, CST and Starship launch may be at any time after that. 

Keep yer finners crossed. 

[Shadowmuse Blown]

Starship at Starbase waiting to launch tomorrow, 11/17

UPDATE 3pm EST:

No Starship launch for Friday. As per Elon Musk: “We need to replace a grid fin actuator, so launch is postponed to Saturday”

[Shadowmuse Blown]

Amazing launch this morning of Starship’s second test flight.   All 33 Raptor engines fired.  The “hot staging” separation—where Starship’s engines ignite before the first and second stages separate—was successful.  Both the booster and the Starship suffered RUDs—Rapid Unexpected Disassembly in SpaceX parlance—later, but so much went right and so much data was gathered for the next attempt.  Rapid prototype testing like this is all about learning from what went wrong to make the next attempt better.  Incredible engineering.

[MaxBigfoot]

I applaud what they've done so far, and look forward to seeing more successful launches once they've worked out what went wrong.   

[Shadowmuse Blown]

I applaud what they've done so far, and look forward to seeing more successful launches once they've worked out what went wrong.   

Yeah, it’s pretty amazing what they’ve accomplished so far.  A lot of people don’t understand rapid prototype testing.  They remember the Moon missions , but most of those had all their parts individually tested before going to the tower.  This is a situation where each test tests every component and some of these things are only being tested for the first time.  Things will go wrong and that’s how they learn. 

Speaking of things going wrong, you all may remember the huge trench that the launch last April created when the Raptor engines blasted apart the concrete under the launch table. That hole was filling with concrete and rebar and then a steel plate was laid down that was filled with holes as part of a water deluge system.  The idea is to spray water upwards like a giant upside down shower head to keep the plate cool and keep any damage from happening.  Apparently, it worked like a charm.  Elon says it will require no refurbishment.

[Shadowmuse Blown]

An incredible shot of Starship 25 just as it finished hot-staging separation from Booster 9.

Incredibly, Elon says that hardware should be ready for another launch in 3 to 4 weeks.  He says that there are three ships in final preparation in the High Bay.

[MaxBigfoot]

I applaud what they've done so far, and look forward to seeing more successful launches once they've worked out what went wrong.   

Yeah, it’s pretty amazing what they’ve accomplished so far.  A lot of people don’t understand rapid prototype testing.  They remember the Moon missions , but most of those had all their parts individually tested before going to the tower.  This is a situation where each test tests every component and some of these things are only being tested for the first time.  Things will go wrong and that’s how they learn. 

Speaking of things going wrong, you all may remember the huge trench that the launch last April created when the Raptor engines blasted apart the concrete under the launch table. That hole was filling with concrete and rebar and then a steel plate was laid down that was filled with holes as part of a water deluge system.  The idea is to spray water upwards like a giant upside down shower head to keep the plate cool and keep any damage from happening.  Apparently, it worked like a charm.  Elon says it will require no refurbishment.

Damn, they work fast and ingeniously!   

[Shadowmuse Blown]

I applaud what they've done so far, and look forward to seeing more successful launches once they've worked out what went wrong.   

Yeah, it’s pretty amazing what they’ve accomplished so far.  A lot of people don’t understand rapid prototype testing.  They remember the Moon missions , but most of those had all their parts individually tested before going to the tower.  This is a situation where each test tests every component and some of these things are only being tested for the first time.  Things will go wrong and that’s how they learn. 

Speaking of things going wrong, you all may remember the huge trench that the launch last April created when the Raptor engines blasted apart the concrete under the launch table. That hole was filling with concrete and rebar and then a steel plate was laid down that was filled with holes as part of a water deluge system.  The idea is to spray water upwards like a giant upside down shower head to keep the plate cool and keep any damage from happening.  Apparently, it worked like a charm.  Elon says it will require no refurbishment.

Damn, they work fast and ingeniously!   

Yeah, they had that thing repaired and redone within 3 months.

[Shadowmuse Blown]

Stage separation from a different angle.  This video is great.  Find it HERE