SpaceX Starship Landing Achieved! – Why Did It Work This Time?

Big thanks to Surfshark VPN for sponsoring today's episode! SpaceX's Starship SN15 did it. It is the first Starship launched from Boca Chica Texas and it actually survived. Let's break down the flight and take a look at how

this

incredible milestone impacts SpaceX and our future! Translated into Dutch by JustInni :) My name is Felix and I am the host of today's episode of What about it!? And as always, there's been a lot going on in the space industry lately, so let's dive right in! Starship Updates SpaceX is back on track and the Starship enthusiast community has a few things to celebrate.

Of course, I'm referring to the recent release of Starship #15. If you're not sure what exactly all of

this

means for SpaceX and maybe even the future of humanity, stay with me and I'll shed some light on this week's Starship events. That's all. The moment that many had been waiting for for a long

time

. May 5 at approximately 5:20 p.m. local

time

. (UTC-5) SpaceX Starbase, South Texas. USA. Planet Earth. Starship #15, the latest in a growing line of Starship prototypes, is ready for its big moment. The WAI family called it Scrubby because the release date was pushed back several times.

It was, or better yet, is a huge improvement over the last generation of SpaceX Starships. While serial numbers 8 to 11 were the third generation prototypes with many problems that still needed to be resolved, the SN15 is already part of the next and fourth generation. In my SN10 vs SN15 episode, I went into a lot of depth on the differences and if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend watching it after the episode to get even more insight into what makes this flight so special. As you can see on SpaceX's live stream directly from the pad, the weather wasn't great and I honestly didn't expect SpaceX to fire up the engines that day, but they did.

Kage, my co-host for the night, and I could barely stand the excitement and the community pulled off the longest hype train in space history. All thanks to SpaceX and a space project that couldn't be crazier in its scale. Then the story unfolded. Narrated by John Insprucker, an icon in the spaceflight community, spacecraft number 15 flew into a very low cloud ceiling over Boca Chica. All three Raptor engines fired without any apparent problems. Then about a minute and 35 seconds later, the live camera feeds started stuttering badly, but even that didn't affect the experience. Still narrated by Insprucker and still applauded by the space community gathered around the world, SN15 continued its rise.

Approximately 4 minutes into the flight, SN15 performed the famous Adama maneuver and entered free fall. We've seen this a few times, but it doesn't really get old. As seen here with Starship #10, Starships does this to practice their method of

landing

safely on Earth. Unlike, say, a Falcon 9 booster, a Starship loses most of its speed before

landing

by flying through the atmosphere and increasing its drag coefficient and surface area as much as it can. In this way a large amount of fuel is saved for the final landing, since in this way the terminal speed can be reduced to approximately 90 meters per second.

Many thanks to the SpaceX staff responsible for placing the cameras on Starship #15. Whoever ever came up with the idea of ​​placing one of the cameras on a front flap deserves an Oscar for best camera. This way we were able to take a ride on a Starship flap and get a good idea of ​​how much these flaps need to move to balance the free fall portion of the descent phase. Approximately 5 minutes into the flight, Starship #15 prepared to make the transition from horizontal to vertical, perform the turn maneuver, and begin the final landing. John Insprucker, of course, explained it and said that Starship will run on three engines and then shut down one engine and possibly two and then make the landing.

On Starship #10, the landing was performed on one engine after shutting down two to ensure that one engine had proper ignition. It had good combustion, but it also ingested helium from the header tanks during landing, which reduced thrust and caused a very rough landing, ultimately causing the loss of the vehicle a few minutes after landing. Do not misunderstand. These RUDs are spectacular and Cosmic Perspective did an absolutely incredible job filming this event, but while we love these explosions, SpaceX doesn't. It keeps them away from the biggest prize at the end. A spacecraft that they can actually analyze after the flight.

SN15 allowed SpaceX to do just that. Starship SN15 rotated with two engines and kept them on during landing, eventually providing enough power for SN15 to land gently. In the incredible images from LabPadre's camera you can see how smoothly Starship landed. Not quite in the center of the platform and with a small fire developing under the engine skirt immediately after landing, but still legs spread, upright and soft. He survived. Immediately after landing, SpaceX showed a camera that from inside the engine compartment a thermal insulation blanket could be seen hanging and burning. This could have been the cause of the fire in the engine compartment.

The greatest damage caused by the fire can be seen in a drone image taken just after landing. Loud bangs are heard and some petticoat explosions can be seen. They are probably cops in the engine compartment that exploded after the fire got them hot enough. This likely damaged the Raptor engines beyond repair. But this is not so bad. For the first time in the test program, SpaceX has flown a Starship prototype that has not undergone a full RUD. I can already see a smiling horde of engineers cannibalizing poor SN15 because it's the holy grail for them. Now you can inspect a flown Starship for the first time.

Inspect welds, material fatigue, hot tiles, tank structure, etc. SN15 not only demonstrated that a Block 4 Starship can land, but it also gave SpaceX the opportunity to study a Starship up close after a flight. My verdict on this flight is that this is the test SpaceX needed to now enter the next phase of development. SN15 not only proved that a Starship can land without exploding, but it is also a great motivation for all the engineers and

work

ers involved in its construction. Knowing that progress is being made can be an encouraging feeling. Thank you, SpaceX crew. You guys are absolutely amazing.

Now let's see what comes after SN15. What can we expect next? What are they doing now? Let's find out! What do you think of today's episode so far? You like me? Give it the go ahead. Isn't it fun? Tell us in the comments what we can do better! Subscribe to the channel or even become a member by pressing the button below the video and get great perks like access to our Discord and the opportunity to chat with me and the team or completely commercial-free episode releases for followers. Or buy new Waiwear clothing in our merch store!

Community designs including Neopork, Nick Henning, Brendan and me! Ready to make you look great for the next release! Thank you for all your support! You're Cool! Now that SN15 is history, SpaceX will clear the landing pad, deploy the next prototype, and move on to the next target in line. A Starship orbital flight. To validate the results of the SN15 test flight, SpaceX will, as always, deliver the next prototype to the Starbase launch site as soon as possible. SN16, even more advanced and capable of continuing the success story, is already stacked and waiting on the high shelf of the construction site.

Work is being completed and we can expect a launch on the platform very soon. Boca Charts is ready with the latest schedule for the WAI family, including the launch of SN15 on Wednesday. It occurred on the 27th day after arrival at the launch site, putting it 5 days after SN11, which had its spectacular explosion in dense fog over the suborbital fuel farm. It shows that with each successive Starship, the trend towards shorter wait times on the platform is clear. SN9 took SpaceX an additional 15 days to prepare for flight. SN10 took 6 more days. So if SN16 takes about the same amount of time as SN15 and we're not too far away from deploying it to the platform, we might get two Starship flights this month.

Next comes SN17 and some much-needed Superz Heavy booster testing. Much of the attention is now focused on the orbital launch site, showing that SpaceX is very excited to reach the next big milestone, a Starship orbital flight, very soon. The integration, launch and landing support tower is rapidly taking shape. Here is an aerial photo taken by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography. It shows the Sanchez site, where SpaceX is currently building a factory to produce oxygen and methane. Those big black molds on the ground are relatively new, however, and SpaceX is using them to assemble segments of the orbital launch base's support tower.

Blender 3D Creation Eccentric has made a very nice animation for #TeamSpace to illustrate the construction. Six segments should be enough for the tower to reach its maximum height. All of this was manufactured separately at the Sánchez plant, transported to the launch site and stacked on top of each other with the large new Liebherr crane. As always, a quick and easy approach. If we look closer at the structure, there are hundreds of attachment points on the horizontal beams, so it's very likely that SpaceX is turning the sides and tower into a fairly solid structure. Also built at the Sánchez site, we finally know what SpaceX will use the large flat domes for.

They become shells for the tanks at the launch site. Some of these large new tanks are intended for cryogenic fuel. Without some form of insulation, a large crust of ice would develop on the outside and would be very energy inefficient. To prevent them from overflowing, they need some type of insulation. And that's exactly what SpaceX is building at the Sanchez site. Nice jackets for the tanks to keep warm...uh...cold. The extra layer between the t-shirt and the jacket

work

s like a thermos. Nice and cold inside and room temperature outside. This prevents overflow and saves enormous amounts of energy that SpaceX would otherwise have to invest in constantly cooling the fuel.

Construction of the orbital launch site is undoubtedly the largest infrastructure construction project the SpaceX South Texas Starbase has seen to date. The entire site is currently being transformed from adjacent suborbital space with successful testing to a spaceport capable of sending Starship on its first test flight to Earth orbit and then on regular flights including to the Moon and Mars. On my SN15 livestream with my co-host Kage, I was asked to explain why exactly this is all history in the making. I would like to ask you the same thing. What do you think makes all of this important?

What do you think the consequences will be? How will all this change our future? Write it in the comments! I'm curious to hear your opinion! Now let's take a look at today's sponsor and don't click yet. The truth is that the treatment is quite good. Whether it is data and identity theft, traceability, intrusive advertising or geo-blocking. Surfshark VPN encrypts your data and allows you to change your virtual location. Have you ever received a message that this site or video is not available in your country? Streaming services like Netflix or Disney+, for example, have very different libraries in different countries!

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You're great!!! Without you and all the other followers what is happening would not be possible. Thank you for your support, enjoy today's ad-free launch, and don't forget to join us on the WAI Discord server! I hope to thank you personally! Today's team shout out goes to the crazy group of people who make our live streams possible! Themodifications! Thank you so much for putting up with all that shrugging, hype, and Kage trains! Without you there would be no broadcasts! It is an honor and pleasure to work with you! Have a great weekend and see you at the next release!