To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE


SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

Starship Flight Test 7: Another Amazing 'Catch' and One Spectacular Failure [Videos]

Stephen Green : Jan 17, 2025  PJ Media

"Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" -Elon Musk, via X

[PJMedia.com] It can be a fine line between failure and success, depending on what you're trying to accomplish. In one sense, Thursday's Starship Flight Test 7 was a spectacular success. In another, it was a failure—but still spectacular. (Screengrab image: via X)

The Starship stack launched nominally at 5:37 p.m. Eastern, consisting of Super Heavy Booster 14 and Ship 33—the first time a Block 2 Starship has flown and the first booster to include an engine reused from a previous launch.

The Ship's hot-stage separation from the booster appeared to go well at two minutes and 40 seconds but that's where things started to go wrong for the doomed second stage. We'll come back to that in a moment.

The plan was for the B14 booster to return to Earth in the loving embrace of the Mechazilla "chopstick" arms—the very same launch pad it had left just minutes before. That part of the mission was nearly flawless. While only 12 out of the 13 boostback engines fired at two minutes 26 seconds, the booster's many engines provide enough redundancy to make up for partial failures. Both the boostback burn shutdown (3:29) and the landing burn (6:35) went off flawlessly.

As for the catch... just watch.

"Atmospheric reentry speed is more than twice as fast as a bullet from an assault rifle," Elon Musk said late last night, "and this is the largest flying object ever made." (Screengrab image: via X)

That is the most powerful rocket ever to fly. And instead of falling into the ocean when its job was done, it returned like a fiery high-tech boomerang to exactly where it started. In just two or three years from now—maybe less—SpaceX will launch, catch, refuel, and have each Heavy Booster ready to fly again in hours.

Not months, like the Space Shuttle. Not weeks, like the SpaceX Falcon 9 workhorse. Hours. "Peak human engineering," indeed.

Flight Test 5 featured the first attempted catch, and it was a success. The catch on Flight Test 6 had to be waved off due to tower damage caused by the booster's 33 engines at launch. It likely would have been a success since the "water landing" was flawless. So SpaceX is now two for three on Super Heavy catches.

But the Ship—yikes.

The engines began failing at 7:39 into the mission that was supposed to take it into a partial orbit, followed by a controlled water landing in the Indian Ocean, half a world away. Instead, the Ship reentered the atmosphere over the nearby(ish) Turks & Caicos island in the Caribbean. It created quite the fireworks show... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading and watch the video clips Here.







SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News

[Watch] JD Vance Ventures Onto 'The View,' Serves Up an Unforgettable Schooling

School District Pays $95K to Settle Lawsuit After Painting Over Bible Verse Tribute to Charlie Kirk

Is MLB Treating Christians Differently? Senator Hawley Demands Answers

Hundreds of Thousands of Antidepressants Recalled Over Potential Cancer Risk

12 Key Points on Iran Peace Deal Revealed, as Trump Says He'll Likely Read It to Media So They Get It Right

Election Results: Trump-Backed Candidates Win 3 Senate Primary Contests, Lose in Georgia Governor's Race

A Mother's Concern, Call to Authorities May Have Prevented Potential Terror Attack on UFC Event at the White House

Feds Name Five Individuals Charged in UFC Freedom 250 Terror Plot

Video: Iran Soccer Fans Defy FIFA Autocrats and Fly 'Lion & Sun' Pre-Islamic Regime Flags

Good News: Nearly 60 Planned Parenthood Facilities Have Shut Down Since Trump Took Office

Illinois Man Receives Prison Sentence for Killing Unborn Baby With Abortion Pills

Louisiana Dad Poisons His Daughter with Abortion Drug in Latest Mifepristone Horror Story

Major League Baseball Warns Christian Players Not to Put Bible Verses on Caps

Kennedy and Rollins Make Huge Announcement About Ridglan Farms and Animal Testing

Prayer Alert: 8 Killed in B-52 Bomber Crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California

God's Protection: FBI Thwarted a Chilling, Potential Attack on the UFC Event Sunday Night at the White House

60,000 Christians Rally for Jesus in One of the World's Most Secular Countries

New Research: The Big Questions on Teens' Minds Today

'Help Me!': Botched Euthanasia Exposes the Horrific Reality Behind 'Medical Aid in Dying'

A New Study Just Confirmed the Left's Worst-Kept Secret



Search the Articles Archives

Keyword:  
Author:  
Words Posted On:  
Day Month Year



Subscribe to
Breaking Christian News


Follow BCN on Twitter
Are You Praying for Our Government Leaders?
BCN Staff

Steve Shultz
Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner


Aimee Herd
Aimee Herd, Editor


BCN Plus
Are You Praying for President Trump?
 
 

All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.


Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.

editor@breakingchristiannews.com