Elon Musk occasionally publishes slices of his Diablo game or launches streams with «rink»However, this time the audience was in for an unplanned surprise.
On one of the rollers as noted by Reuters journalists (via TechCrunch), you can hear background audio with the voice of one of the SpaceX engineers sharing details about the launch of the Starship megastar:
«I want to be honest about the shit that happened», — says a voice over of Musk playing Diablo. «We were a second away from stopping the missile and landing it next to the tower». To which Elon replied: «Wow. Wow».
The same voice continued the story, noting that before the engine was launched during the launch vehicle’s return to Earth «the cover on its body broke off — probably in the place where there was spot welding».
«We have a plan to solve this problem», — the engineer summarized.
The fifth test flight of Starship, known as IFT-5, took place on October 13 and was marked by epic first stage landing «in the hands of» Mechazilla tower.
The full context of Musk’s conversation with the engineer is not clear, but judging solely by these words, the flawless historical flight of the Starship was dangerously close to disaster.
«We will try to achieve a reasonable balance between speed and risk mitigation in the launch vehicle,» says the engineer, hinting at plans for future launches.
The date of the next test launch of Starship has not yet been announced, but the US Federal Aviation Administration has actually authorized IFT-5 and IFT-6 simultaneously.