SpaceX normally get viral videos by showcasing ultra hi-tech rocketry and uber-snazzy technology etc. This time it’s different, they’ve gone viral because they arsed it up merrily and verily.
If you’re in the business of flinging things into space, that’s bound to happen every once in a while. I mean, you can’t get cutting edge space technology right first time, they have to play about with it a bit first, learn the limits and what works and what doesn’t. There’s a bit of give and take, some of the most expensive suck it and see in the observable universe.
During a test of the brand new SpaceX’s Falcon 9-R Dev1 it all went slightly awry. Well, very awry really: it blew up.
They released this blurb about it not long after the event:
Unfortunately for SpaceX’s media image people much prefer to see things fail and explode than things winning and flying. That’s miserable humans for you, we like a fall guy, a sacrificial goat. Something that makes us feel an iota less dense.
Plus, explosions do look really, really cool. Just so you can get your eye in, this beast is about 160 feet (50 metres) tall, or even better – about the length of 5 buses. So that’s a BIG blast.
It’s the pretty impressive and thoroughly dark sound of the blast that gives me the chills. I had to watch it a few times. At least no one was injured, SpaceX head honcho, Elon Musk, got on Twitter to explain…
Three engine F9R Dev1 vehicle auto-terminated during test flight. No injuries or near injuries. Rockets are tricky.
They sure are Elon, they sure are.
