Aakash GuptaLead source
SpaceX threw a rocket into the ocean on purpose today, and from the beach it looked absolutely perfect. The booster is about 23 stories tall. It flew back to Texas a few minutes after launching Starship to orbit and came down engines-first right off the shore, with people parked on the sand next to their pickup trucks watching. The plan was for the launch tower to catch it out of the air with two giant metal arms, and the tower never even got a chance. Turns out the ocean is the default. On the way back, the flight director has to send a manual go command before the booster finishes its turnaround burn, and on top of that, thousands of separate checks on the rocket and the tower all have to come back clean. If that command doesn't come in time, or one of those checks looks off, the…Read original on X