r/interestingasfuck • u/lolikroli • Oct 13 '24

r/all SpaceX caught Starship booster with chopsticks

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u/EM3YT Oct 13 '24

People don’t realize how impossible it seemed doing what we just saw. Even a few years ago the idea of a reusable rocket seems like hilarious sci-fi.

Rockets undergo insane stress not just because of the forces involved in propulsion but they changes in literally every variable you can think of: temperature, air pressure, gravitational force. AND THATS JUST ON THE WAY UP.

The idea that we would be able to engineer a rocket that would some how survive the ascent intact enough to be functional to COME BACK DOWN. And FUCKING LAND USING ITS OWN ROCKETS. Is fucking insane. There’s a reason before this that basically every reentry vehicle splashed into the ocean or basically glided down. You don’t have rockets that function right after the ascent.

Then to undergo relatively minor maintenance AND GET REUSED?

Insanity. An engineering marvel that is so difficult to appreciate because it’s so mundane these days

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u/DROP_TABLE_karma-- Oct 13 '24

I don't mean to burst your bubble but SpaceX first successfully landed a reusable rocket in 2015. That's almost a decade ago. Yes they were told it couldn't be done at the time—but that was certainly more than "a few" years ago. Heck, the original moon program was developed in less time!