Keith Tanner said:
The Shuttle could have been implemented better, but there were some cross range requirements forced on the designers that forced a suboptimal design. It would be interesting to see how we could meet those requirements today given Starship's 1:1 glide ratio (iirc) that allows for surprising cross range capability.
Yeah, NASA wanted to get the military involved for funding purposes, and that's what drove the cross-range requirements. This is actually a great example of one of the things Elon was talking about in the other SpaceX thread about engineering and requirements. AFAIK they never used that capability (the military basically gave up on the Shuttle after Challenger) and yet they paid the price for it on every mission.
20 or so minutes into part 2 of the Everyday Astronaut interview with Elon and suddenly a lot of what's happening at Boca Chica started to make sense.
Inspiration 4 is currently loading up the crew for 3 days in orbit. If it launches at the beginning of the window it should give the east coast a good show provided the sky is clear. Watch it all unfold on Netflix in a series or live below for the launch hopefully at 8:02 pm EST.
This is a pretty big deal. And those are the most visibly excited astronauts I've ever seen.
Indeed, a big deal.
My generation's Apollo 11 mission.
All civilian crew on a relatively fully autonomous orbital space launch with a reusable first stage. Absolutely bonkers.
I wish SpaceX would put up some Mega Big screens at the factory in Hawthorne ,
It would be cool to watch it with the people who built it !
They are at 10 minutes and all is good !
Yup, pretty spectacular launch. (Just a cell phone photo since we ran out front to watch it while dinner was cooking.) 
https://youtu.be/iLVfdGO7tHw?t=7356
The vantage point Everyday Astronaut got was AMAZING. Absolutely blessed to have been able to witness this live, even if it was through a computer screen. A feat of modern engineering.
SpaceX got some amazing views of that as well. I think the lighting was just right. Separation is here: https://youtu.be/zBxHrNIzp9w?t=1094
Watch a bit longer and you can see the fairings separate: https://youtu.be/zBxHrNIzp9w?t=1176
Jealous you guys get to see it live.
In reply to Slippery :
So it was a good thing that there was a cruise ship out in the exclusions zone scrubbing the launch on Sunday....
The flying pig made it outside for the first time ever. (Insider shot here 
)
It has since failed the fuel again...
Hey now, that"s not SpaceX! 
But very cool. I always thought I would have been great to experience a Saturn 5 launch, just for the sound if nothing else. The SLS will have more thrust! Could be quite the experience!
In reply to aircooled :
The SLS Block 2 should have more thrust than a Saturn V. Not this Block 1.
Falcon heavy launched a military satellite at 550. One of the coolest launches I've seen in awhile.
In reply to lnlogauge :
Fantastic footage of the booster separation and boostback.
Heavy launches are always a highlight. That dual booster landing is just so sci-fi.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
It's astonishing how good they are at video production now. The thing is 20 miles up, and they are filming it like it's 20,000ft up. Absolutely incredible watching the separation and boost back from the ground camera.
The lighting angle was also perfect today, launch was right at twilight.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
It was a great evening for it. We watch it from the backyard. Perfect clear view today well past separation. Ive seen the videos plenty, but my mind got blown a bit today as my family and I watch the berkin boosters falling and firing as needed to correct their position, in full berkin control the whole GD time. Not on tv, movie, etc. you gotta see it in person. Fully sci-fi come to life.
As a kid watching the Space Shuttle launches from the back yard, you could see the boosters separate and start tumbling a bit as they burned out and headed for a parachute landing wherever it went. That was cool. Seeing the boosters just pop off and drive themselves back is a mind-f.
seriously after separation, the boosters are all im watching.
elon is my daddy
Lined up for a 33-engine static fire this afternoon...
There is a scheduled Integrated Test Flight for Starship on Monday 5-8 am Pacific (8-11 local).
This should be the orbital test flight with Starship splashing down near Hawaii.
The vehicle will launch from Starbase, at Boca Chica, Texas, on the United States Gulf Coast.[6] The booster and spacecraft will separate about 172 seconds into the flight. The spacecraft will continue under powered flight until reaching the desired transatmospheric Earth orbit, estimated to be around 250x50km (155x31mi), which will cause Starship to decay from orbit after roughly 1 hour, 17 minutes of flight.[3]
Assuming the rocket survives ascent, both the booster and the spacecraft will perform controlled touchdowns on the ocean surface, but neither will be recovered.[3] According to filings with the Federal Communications Commission, the booster will perform a boostback burn and target a landing about 20 miles (32 km) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Starship spacecraft will target a landing in the Pacific Ocean about 62 miles (100 km) northwest of Kauai.[9]
