Author Topic: SpaceX vs. NASA: Who Does Space Better?  (Read 321 times)

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SpaceX vs. NASA: Who Does Space Better?
« on: February 06, 2021, 02:18:23 am »
Interesting Engineering by Brad Bergan 2/5/2021

NASA's early days were bumpier than you think.

Two SpaceX Starships have exploded across our screens in recent months, leading to mixed opinions about the company's star prototype, and its ability to eventually take humans to Mars.

With the FAA investigating the latest exploded Starship — the second in a row for the company — nostalgia yearns for the days when space missions fell solely within the domain of public agencies, instead of private aerospace companies.

However, NASA's origins were just as bumpy — as several prototype rocket vehicles in the 1960s and beyond exploded before they could complete their mission objectives — just like SpaceX's Starship, and earlier prototypes.

The question, then, is raised: Who does space better, NASA, or SpaceX?

SpaceX's Starship SN9 explosion undergoing FAA investigation

The FAA announced it would oversee the investigation into a crash landing of SpaceX's crashed prototype rocket Starship SN9 on Tuesday, according to an initial report from CNN. This came on the heels of a previous investigation of the aerospace company's last Starship, SN8 — which also exploded on landing.

The SN9 Starship was an early prototype for SpaceX, which launched in a high-altitude flight test on Tuesday. Notably, the spacecraft prototype traveled roughly 6 miles (10 km) into the air, hovered momentarily, then successfully performed the "belly-flop" maneuver before crashing and exploding into the Earth.

"The FAA's top priority in regulating commercial space transportation is ensuring that operations are safe, even if there is an anomaly," said a spokesperson from the U.S. agency, speaking euphemistically about the crash landing.

More: https://interestingengineering.com/spacex-nasa-space-better

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I had a co-worker that had worked "Range Safety" on the Atlas-Centaur. In the early days they had to terminate(blow up) quite a few launches.