SpaceX's rocket landing test was a big success, despite the fiery explosion (update: video)
17 Jan 2015 • engadget.comElon Musk has just tweeted the first photos of the Falcon 9’s “close but no cigar” hard barge landing to fellow rocket enthusiast and Oculus VR evangelist John Carmack. After saying the frames were “kinda begging to be released,” he tweeted out four of them, amusingly recounting the progress of the doomed 14-story-tall ship. The problems started when the rocket section’s fins “lost power and (went) hardover,” which the engine couldn’t counter, resulting in a 45 degree angle crash into the deck. All hell broke loose after that, as “residual fuel and oxygen combine(d),” followed by a “Full RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) event,” aka a fiery explosion.
If fiery explosions are a big success then what does a big failure look like? I’m almost afraid to ask.