Blue Origin's rocket reuse achievement marred by upper stage failure
49 points by rbanffy 4 hours ago | 13 comments
staplung 2 hours ago
The failure of the upper stage is a bummer. If it triggers a months-long review, that will almost certainly bump back the schedule for the prototype Blue Moon lander launch.
replyWalterBright 2 hours ago
Once Elon showed how to do it, and how cost-efficient it was, a rocket company that doesn't do it is not viable.
replytesting22321 2 hours ago
Spacex first landed an orbital booster just over 10 years ago and have now landed 600 times.
replyThe entire rest of the world combined has done it twice.
For a long time people would scoff when it was said they had a 10 year lead, and that others would catch up quickly. Proof meets pudding.
gamblor956 2 hours ago
FTA: "SpaceX suffered upper stage failures on three test flights of the massive Starship rocket last year. "
replySpaceX has also had numerous failures with the larger generation of second stages and currently doesn't have a lead there. Nobody does.
decimalenough 15 minutes ago
Nobody else has anything remotely like Starship. If they pull it off, and it's looking like they will, they will extend their dominance for another decade if not more.
replyYes, Starship development has been slow and occasionally explodey, but they've successfully demonstrated all the fundamentals and it's "just" iteration from here. (They haven't gone into full orbit, but that's by choice, not lack of capability.)
boznz 47 minutes ago
It's a hard problem, and both SpaceX and Blue Origin will probably have failures in the future too, I am encouraged that they both see failure as a way to do better and looking forward to both of them eventually succeeding. It's a good time to be a space nerd.
replyWalterBright 12 minutes ago
There's a saying in the racing business. If you're not walking back to the pit now and then carrying the steering wheel, you're not trying hard enough. If you're walking back to the pit too often, you're incompetent.
reply
They've been flying under the radar there it would seen.