What a difference 5 decades makes

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by

Chris Johnson
in

The date was July 24, 1969. The world waited to see the spacecraft to return. They should land in a very accurate area, some of 6 miles by 10 miles Timestamp 1:14:10

The video is 640×480 NTSC, (Never Twice the Same Color).

There were multiple US warships in near the splashdown zone. Thousands of men to recover the command module before it sank, or something else bad happened.

The day is October 13, 2024. The booster for StarShip returns to the pad, where it lands within the cradle of a gigantic pair of arms, called “The Chopsticks”. The booster has extended four short pegs which will rest on top of the catch arms.

All of this is being filmed in beautiful 4k (or better).

The decision was made to attempt the catch after the last test flight landed within a few centimeters of the target.

Later this day, the booster is lowered and preparations are started for the next launch.

Yes, we are going to Mars.

Aim small, miss small. We have gone from a CEP of 5 miles to a CEP of 0.5 inches.

        

Comments

3 responses to “What a difference 5 decades makes”

  1. Tom from WNY Avatar
    Tom from WNY

    Elon Musk is a visionary with the means to fund what he imagines is possible.

    His mind works on the “we can do this” principle.

    We need more like Elon.

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    Reply
  2. pkoning Avatar
    pkoning

    That was seriously mindboggling.

    I’ve been trying to figure out why SpaceX would do this instead of landing the booster on a pad or a barge, as they did with the older ones. I have some guesses.

    One is that landing on a pad requires support legs on the booster, strong enough to hold it, and that’s parasitic weight. Another is that landing on a pad creates backspash from the engine exhaust, and for a booster this big that would be a lot of heat and shock to handle. A third is that a stable landing when supported by legs at the bottom of a long skinny object requires it to land accurately vertical, while this approach grabs it above the center of gravity so the location is critical but the angle not so much. But I haven’t yet seen a discussion that answers the question.

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    Reply
    1. It's just Boris Avatar
      It’s just Boris

      All of the above are potentially valid reasons.

      But “because it’s cool” and “try that one on for size, Bezos” can’t be discounted, either.

      🙂

      2
      Reply

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