SpaceX Is Launching a Rocket the Size of the Statue of Liberty

[Nikola Bijeliti]

SpaceX Is Launching a Rocket the Size of the Statue of Liberty

SpaceX is aiming to launch its next big test this month with Starship, the spacecraft designed to fly humans to Mars. The company successfully launched a Starship upper stage prototype (SN15) to 10 km (6.2 miles) in the sky and landed it in one piece in May. The next flight will be launching the next-generation upper stage (SN20) on top of a giant booster called Super Heavy to the orbital altitude of at least 160 km (100 miles).

The booster-spacecraft combo will be of unheard-of scale. On July 1, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted two photos of the Super Heavy standing at the Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas. The booster alone is 230 feet (70 meters) tall, roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty. With the 150-feet-tall upper stage attached, the whole stack will stand nearly 400 feet (120 meters) tall, making it the largest rocket ever built to go to space.

[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by Nikola Bijeliti

SpaceX Is Launching a Rocket the Size of the Statue of Liberty

Starship-plus-Super Heavy is nearly 40 feet longer than the 363-foot-tall Saturn V, making the SpaceX rocket the tallest ever. But Saturn V still has it beat as the heaviest and most powerful rocket ever flown, however.

[joeylowsac]

They are going to have 33 Raptor engines?! Their previous Starship prototypes had 3.

[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by joeylowsac

They are going to have 33 Raptor engines?! Their previous Starship prototypes had 3.

Yes they are. The Soviet N1 Moon rocket had 30 NK-33 engines in its first stage and all four unmanned test launches of the rocket ended in a massive explosion. Let's hope Super Heavy/Starship works a little better.

All the failed launches of the Soviet Moon rocket N1 | Historic Rocket Launches

All the failed launches of the Soviet Moon rocket N1 | Historic Rocket Launches

[Nikola Bijeliti]

Why SpaceX’s Starship Is A Sleeping Giant & Quickly Becoming the Leading Spaceship

Why SpaceX’s Starship Is A Sleeping Giant & Quickly Becoming the Leading Spaceship

[Ray Allan]

Those hundreds of Starlink satellites seem very creepy to me. Not only are they going to interfere with ground-based astronomical observations, what other purpose can they be used for besides Internet use? Global surveillance and control is what comes to mind first.

[Nikola Bijeliti]

Originally Posted by Ray Allan

Those hundreds of Starlink satellites seem very creepy to me. Not only are they going to interfere with ground-based astronomical observations, what other purpose can they be used for besides Internet use? Global surveillance and control is what comes to mind first.

SpaceX Describes Efforts to Minimize Adverse Effects of Starlink Satellites on Astronomy

We also firmly believe in the importance of a natural night sky for all of us to enjoy, which is why we have been working with leading astronomers around the world to better understand the specifics of their observations and engineering changes we can make to reduce satellite brightness."

The article describes two of the company's goals:

• Making the satellites generally invisible to the naked eye within a week of launch.
• Minimizing Starlink's impact on astronomy by darkening satellites so they do not saturate observatory detectors.

[Ray Allan]

Spacex Starship Super Heavy Launch Animation

Spacex Starship Super Heavy Launch Animation

[Douglas Kennedy]

I have a feeling this rocket is less about the peaceful exploration of space and more about creating a rapid military deployment capability. Imagine the advantage of getting troops and equipment anywhere on the globe in 40 minutes.

[Nikola Bijeliti]

Originally Posted by Douglas Kennedy

I have a feeling this rocket is less about the peaceful exploration of space and more about creating a rapid military deployment capability. Imagine the advantage of getting troops and equipment anywhere on the globe in 40 minutes.

Elon Musk's stated motive is the colonization of Mars, and this is a private company. Of course, he has a lot of government contracts, and that may be part of the reason that the government supports him, but I don't think it is any part of his motive.

[Ray Allan]

Nova Rocket, Saturn V Big Brother

Nova Rocket, Saturn V Big Brother

Nova was a series of proposed rockets designed from 1959 to 1962. NASA's first proposed missions to allow a direct ascent manned mission to the moon and support manned Mars missions. Similar to the Saturn V Apollo Missions. The Nova studied designs that closely mirrored the Saturn V in basic concept, power, size, and function. Differences were minor but practical.

Depicted is the 8L, included eight F-1s in the lower stage and placed 68 tons in a translunar trajectory. Other designs in the series replaced the F-1s with large solids, while others studied nuclear rocket engines for the upper stages.

[John Smithwick]

https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

OVERVIEW
HEIGHT 120 m / 394 ft
DIAMETER 9 m / 30 ft

That's roughly the height Von Braun suggested in his original designs.

A couple years ago Elon was also talking about making the diameter 18 meters for "Starship 2.0":

SpaceX Starship Version 2 Will Be 18 Meters

SpaceX Starship Version 2 Will Be 18 Meters

[John Smithwick]

Here's the view of the nearly 40 story full stack starship (skip to the end):

SpaceX Starship Full Stack (with music)

SpaceX Starship Full Stack (with music)

The history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship

On 9 December 2020, Starship SN8, the first full-scale Starship prototype fitted with a complement of three Raptor engines as well as body flaps, flew to an altitude of 12.5 km (41,000 ft), performed a horizontal descent, but subsequently failed to complete its landing burn, exploding upon collision with the ground.[71][72] On 2 February 2021, Starship SN9 attempted a 10 km (33,000 ft) flight, but it too was destroyed upon landing when one of three engines failed to ignite.[73] On 3 March 2021, Starship SN10 successfully landed after a 10 km flight, however, the vehicle was destroyed in an explosion eight minutes later.[74][75] The next prototype, Starship SN11, launched on 30 March 2021 to an altitude of 10 km, but disintegrated during the landing burn, scattering debris around the launch site.[76][77][78] On 5 May 2021, Starship SN15 flew to an altitude of 10 km, landed, and was recovered successfully.[79][80][81]

The future:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship

Starship SN20 with Super Heavy Booster 4[149][150] are expected to be used for the first orbital flight of the Starship system no earlier than Sept 2021.[151] FCC filings in May 2021 by SpaceX stated that the orbital flight will launch from Boca Chica. After separation, Super Heavy will perform a return and touch down at a point 20 mi (32 km) offshore, while Starship will enter orbit and after a 90 minute flight splash down 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of Kauai in Hawaii.[152]

[Ray Allan]

TWA Moonliner: Early Civilian Space Flight Rocket

TWA Moonliner: Early Civilian Space Flight Rocket

The Moonliner was designed by John Hench, with the help of German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. It resembled von Braun's V-2 rocket design but depicted what a commercial spaceliner might look like for traveling to the Moon in the faraway year of 1986. The propulsion would have come from an onboard atomic reactor.

It was also an early example of modern product placement advertising by TWA's Howard Hughes teaming up with Walt Disney as the Moonliner sponsor.

Elon Musk had to have been influenced by this sort of stuff.

[Nikola Bijeliti]

Originally Posted by Ray Allan

TWA Moonliner: Early Civilian Space Flight Rocket

Elon Musk had to have been influenced by this sort of stuff.

To think we could have had that in 1986, but we had to set money aside to uplift the Negro. So instead of the Moonliner, we sent a probe up Uranus and had this:

Shuttle Challenger Explosion [New Copy Found; Better Quality]

Shuttle Challenger Explosion [New Copy Found; Better Quality]

[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by Nikola Bijeliti

To think we could have had that in 1986, but we had to set money aside to uplift the Negro. So instead of the Moonliner, we sent a probe up Uranus and had this:

Shuttle Challenger Explosion [New Copy Found; Better Quality]

The probe up Uranus (Voyager 2's flyby) was cool, but just a few days later the Challenger happened. Tragic. Also tragic we don't have anything yet like what von Braun and Walt Disney showed everyone in the 1950s, thanks to jew wars and non-White breeding and feeding programs holding Whites back.

It was a mistake not to have a launch escape system in the Space Shuttle other than the ejection seats installed only during the first few flights. Despite NASA trying to sell flying on Shuttle as safe and routine as an airliner, it was still very much a first-generation experimental vehicle during its entire 30-year service. And 14 astronauts ended up dead because of it. Even with an LES, it was iffy if something like what happened with Challenger would have been survivable, but we'll never know. I don't know if Starship is going to have any kind of LES, either. Even the N-1 rocket which blew up in all 4 attempts had an escape system, which functioned perfectly every time pulling the unmanned Soyuz spacecraft away from the exploding rocket to make a parachute landing. Eventually we'll reach a point where spaceflight can be more or less safe like air travel today, but I just don't think we're there quite yet. Can you imagine a Starship lifting off with 200 people aboard blowing up like that?

[Nikola Bijeliti]

Originally Posted by Ray Allan

Can you imagine a Starship lifting off with 200 people aboard blowing up like that?

Another disaster comes to mind.

[HQ] 1937 Hindenburg Explosion In Colour With Herbert Morrison's Commentary

[HQ] 1937 Hindenburg Explosion In Colour With Herbert Morrison's Commentary

[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by Nikola Bijeliti

Another disaster comes to mind.

[HQ] 1937 Hindenburg Explosion In Colour With Herbert Morrison's Commentary

The Hindenburg disaster did spell the end of passenger airship travel. If only the u.s. sold helium to Germany. But the Titanic did not end oceanic passenger travel. I'm sure there will be more deaths and disasters in space in the future, but I'm certain we will press on as long as man has the urge to explore.

[Ray Allan]

Originally Posted by Ray Allan

Those hundreds of Starlink satellites seem very creepy to me. Not only are they going to interfere with ground-based astronomical observations, what other purpose can they be used for besides Internet use? Global surveillance and control is what comes to mind first.

Associated with this is Neuralink. That shit creeps me out too. It's interesting to see Elon Musk launch rockets, but when he delves into this sort of stuff, it makes me wonder about him and what his real motives are, just like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, George Soros, et al. All part of the same club.

Neuralink: Elon Musk's entire brain chip presentation in 14 minutes (supercut)

Neuralink: Elon Musk's entire brain chip presentation in 14 minutes (supercut)