Summary
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded in space minutes after launching from Texas, marking the second consecutive failure this year.
The rocket spun uncontrollably before breaking apart, with debris seen over Florida and the Bahamas. The cause remains unclear, though multiple engines shut down before contact was lost.
The failure raises concerns about setbacks in Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program. The FAA temporarily halted flights at major Florida airports due to falling debris.
A similar Starship failure in January scattered wreckage over the Caribbean.
I’m sorry for the Caribbean, but if I’m totally honest, the news made me smile.
Same. But as someone who has always been enthusiastic about Space Exploration, seeing humanities frontier efforts led by a literal nazi is now devastating and embarrassing. European leaders need to rethink their academic and business policies so they can nurture a SpaceX without the evil. At the rate the US are going, I’m even cheering on China’s efforts 😬
I dunno if there can be such a thing with a privatized space industry.
At least NASA carried the hopes and dreams of people across the planet into space on their shoulders. Same with the cosmonauts before and alongside them, and all the other national space projects that lead to wonders like the ISS.
(How telling that Musk is already running his dome about bringing the ISS down way ahead of schedule.)
Privatized space exploration has finally managed to do space what corporations have always done: Make it depressingly boring and awful. There’s no wonder, no reverence, no awe. Just another unexploited opportunity for profits to a small group of sociopaths.
And we’re supposed to be excited about this. Hooray.
“Alrighty, boys and girls, if we get this rocket to space, daddy Elon gets stupidly richer and you get a pat on the back! Woo!”
They dream of a world where people are working off lifetimes of debt but in zero-G, renting sleep capsules, subscribing to air, and seeing a night sky full of ad space, while they sail space yachts in high orbit.
I’d smile if elon had been inside.