After a two-week investigation, the FAA has apparently decided that all is well with the SpaceX Starship interplanetary rocket test program even though its last two rockets blew to smithereens while attempting to land at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test facility. “The SN9 vehicle failed within the bounds of the FAA safety analysis,” the FAA said in a statement to CNN. “Its unsuccessful landing and explosion did not endanger the public or property." SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded by breaking his self-imposed exile from Twitter and tweeting there’s a “good chance of flying this week!” The launch of SN10 and the next attempt to land the silo-like rocket could happen as early as Monday.
We can all sleep well tonight, now that the FAA has “blessed” the findings of the SN9 incident. The development of any new rocket is going to have teething pains. The Atlas missile, that was the backbone of the Mercury space flight program, was plagued by early failures. In fact, even though the Mercury program had a perfect launch record, the satellite business for the Atlas carried about a 10% failure rate through the Atlas I & II versions.
It’s good there is oversight. Elon Musk (I can’t speak for Space-X per se) has a long history of exaggeration, manipulation and arrogance and can’t be trusted. I’m glad there is some supervision now.