We all know how SpaceX’s high altitude flight test ended, but what about the actual flight? Just hours after the SN8 launch earlier today, SpaceX tweeted this clip showing a zoomed in view of the Starship prototype as its Raptor engines re-fired and spun the spacecraft in order to prepare it for landing. At 160 feet tall, SpaceX said this would be the largest craft to perform such a move.
The capture is zoomed in close enough for you to see details of the engines moving and what appears to be green TEB igniter fluid spraying.
Starship landing flip maneuver pic.twitter.com/QuD9HwZ9CX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 10, 2020
As Elon Musk explained in a tweet, low fuel header tank pressure during the landing caused it to come down to fast to avoid a crash, but “controlling all way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic!!.”
SN8 did great! Even reaching apogee would’ve been great, so controlling all way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2020
Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020
via https://AiUpNow.com December 9, 2020 at 09:42PM by , Khareem Sudlow,
