Breaking: Starship prototype #9 tips over inside assembly building
It appears from the 24-hour live stream provided by LabPadre that the ninth Starship prototype tipped over inside the assembly building to rest against one wall. You can see it happen at about 8 seconds into the video below:
No word on whether anyone was hurt, nor any information about the cause. My guess is that it occurred during the operations to move this prototype to the launchpad.
UPDATE: It appears no one was hurt, but there is damage to the fins, which might also mean damage to the hull. This in turn might make it unsafe to fly this prototype, as the hull forms the walls of the methane/oxygen tanks.
The day has not been good for SpaceX. Earlier they had to scrub the launch of a commercial communications satellite at T-30 seconds for reasons that they did not provide. High altitude winds had delayed the launch an hour or so, but it appears this was not the reason. According to SpaceX’s website, “SpaceX is standing down from Friday’s launch attempt of the SXM-7 mission to perform additional ground system checkouts.” They are targeting Sunday for the next launch attempt.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
It appears from the 24-hour live stream provided by LabPadre that the ninth Starship prototype tipped over inside the assembly building to rest against one wall. You can see it happen at about 8 seconds into the video below:
No word on whether anyone was hurt, nor any information about the cause. My guess is that it occurred during the operations to move this prototype to the launchpad.
UPDATE: It appears no one was hurt, but there is damage to the fins, which might also mean damage to the hull. This in turn might make it unsafe to fly this prototype, as the hull forms the walls of the methane/oxygen tanks.
The day has not been good for SpaceX. Earlier they had to scrub the launch of a commercial communications satellite at T-30 seconds for reasons that they did not provide. High altitude winds had delayed the launch an hour or so, but it appears this was not the reason. According to SpaceX’s website, “SpaceX is standing down from Friday’s launch attempt of the SXM-7 mission to perform additional ground system checkouts.” They are targeting Sunday for the next launch attempt.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Oh my, I hope everyone is OK. That should delay them a day or two. If it was ULA, to would be a year or two.
At least two of the four fins have been damaged. See pictures in the link. Perhaps it prevented further damage to the missile body through their “victim”. At least there does not appear to have been any serious injuries as there was no information on the spot that ambulances were on the way. The event happened some hours ago. The rocket’s attitude or position did not change up to now.
https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/status/1337427412590743555/photo/2
Right after personnel safety, I would be concerned about the building. SN9 can be replaced in days if necessary by SN10-SN11-SN12……….
It just wanted to look a bit more like the logo of LabPadre.
Ouch!
Okay, it’s pretty obvious to me SN-9 looked at what happened to SN-8, and took a World Cup-class dive!
Remind me how far along SN 10 is ?
I am still trying to figure out how this happened.’
‘
Did it slide off of its carrier?
Did one or two of the landing legs retract?
I can see at least procedure being updated real soon.
Thanks, Bob. Funny how the the lows come after a great success. I’ve been kinda down ever since the rampant voter fraud allowed the ecosocialists to steal the election from President Trump – it’d be nice have another SpaceX win.
Take a look at the picture at the link below. SpaceX used an old, now obsolete steel roller (originally planned for Starship’s production) as a weight to stabilize the SN9 stand and prevent it from tipping over, which did not seem to work. This is not exactly an ideal technical solution. What do you think? This seems like an unsafe working place to me, but I am not sure about the US rules.
https://twitter.com/ChrisUK27/status/1338062512932216832/photo/1
Some pictures of damage that SN 9 experienced yesterday after it toppled against the building wall. This fin has to be replaced. The dent can certainly be rebulged again. I haven’t found any information about what SN9 looks like at its lower part. It appears that SpaceX or Elon Musk have not yet issued an official statement on the incident.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=52398.0;attach=1998042;image
Addition: There is obviously also damage to one of the lower or rear fins. I hope that the joints of the fins have not been damaged.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=52398.0;attach=1998182;image
SpaceX Moves Quickly To Repair Damaged SN9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSt0tqmDwHI