As interested as I am to see how the #SpaceX Starship OFT launch goes tomorrow, it must be stated, again, how unusually and needlessly reckless they are with their launch site setup. It is going to be a danger to the people and wildlife surrounding Starbase.
LAUNCH DAY 🧵! 🚀 This morning I'll be right there with so many other #space fans watching what happens in Texas with the launch of SpaceX's #Starship - the largest rocket ever built.
Current news from SpaceX is launch target of 8:20 CDT (UTC-5), which is about an hour from now.
They say a livestream will start "45 minutes before" launch.
Will it launch successfully? Will it reach orbit? Will it blow up?
My own interest in the #Starship launch is partly just a lifelong fascination with #space and rockets 🚀 ... but it's also because #SpaceX is planning to use Starship to launch their #Starlink "Gen2" satellites up into orbit.
These are larger satellites with more capacity and more capabilities. They'll be able to provide even more #InternetAccess once in orbit.
However, they are too large to fly on the Falcon 9 rocket.
They have to fly on Starship. So... SpaceX needs this all to work.
Some issue with pressurization has caused them to scrub the #Starship launch. They will treat today as a "wet dress rehearsal".
They will apparently try to launch again later this week. The #SpaceX folks on the live stream just said that it will be a minimum of 48 hours before they can launch again.
#EverydayAstronaut 📆 2019 #BlueOrigin's #BE4 has potential to be truly game changing at around $133 : kN over 25 flights, which could make it about as cheap to operate than the #Merlin at $117 per kN per flight. But if the #Raptor engine truly lives up to its hype, it could bring that number all the way down to $20 💵 per kN per flight.
#BE4 is around $8 million 💰 per engine, the #Merlin is less than $1 million and for the #Raptor, Elon has mentioned he thinks they can produce the Raptor for cheaper than or close to the Merlin engine https://everydayastronaut.com/raptor-engine
A young man named Elon did toil,
Burnin' the ol' midnight oil.
Hard work drove him far
With an electric car
That would've made Tesla recoil.
Success earned for Elon the grace
To in history heighten his place;
He built an alliance
With money and science,
And now he is flying through space.
He then in his haste purchased Twitter.
An asset, once sweet, turning bitter.
Proud, myopic, and White,
He defends the far right;
Now Twitter is bound for the shitter. #Elon#HeyElon#Tesla#SpaceX#limericks
Hatch open! #NASA#Crew6 astronauts are now part of #ISS Expedition 68 crew. They will return to being called Crew-6 after undocking, planned in about 6 months. During that time, Endeavour remains their lifeboat in case of emergency. / #SpaceX#CrewDragon#Endeavour#NewSpace