SpaceX posts a clearer look at the Starship SN10 test flight
The recap video cuts out before everything went boom.
From the time Starship SN10 took off until a few minutes after it landed, things went mostly as planned. Now SpaceX has posted a recap video for the most recent high-altitude test flight, which includes video from the vehicle itself, as well as close-up detailed looks at the rocket engines as it came in for a landing. You can clearly see the landing legs extend as it comes down, and when SN10 bounces amid a cloud of smoke on landing.
SN11 almost ready to fly https://t.co/fXmjJZOiKk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 17, 2021
What you won't see is a peek at the crushed legs on impact, or the spectacular explosion that followed, similar to the video recap it posted after the SN8 flight test. Elon Musk detailed some of the "multiple" fixes SpaceX planned for its next flight, and tweeted tonight that SN11 is "almost ready to fly."
But this video is about the successes of the flight test. As the description on YouTube indicates, "it successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and reoriented itself for reentry and an active aerodynamic controlled descent. SN10’s Raptor engines reignited to perform the vehicle’s landing flip maneuver immediately before successfully touching down on the landing pad."