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Originally Posted by Jerry Irvine
So, since this will be a recurring news item, SLS delayed, maybe just bump this thread a couple times a year. Meantime Hopper (pre-Starship) has had hot fire tests of the first vehicle as of 7-19.
Jerry
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That's what I'm afraid of, concerning the SLS--that it will just go on and on because it gives NASA something to do (in other words, NASA and NASA contractor jobs). It isn't even a well-optimized system, having mediocre payload capability for its size and cost. But more cheerfully:
Yes, I was very pleased to see SpaceX's Starship Hopper test vehicle make its first brief un-tethered flight (for anyone who may not have seen it yet, here's an article with included videos:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/07/...hered-hop-test/ )! If it wasn't the first methalox rocket to fly, it has to be among the first. The complete vehicle's payload in orbit (the fully-reusable Starship second stage [with an integral payload bay], launched atop the reusable booster, called the Super Heavy) is 220,000 pounds (see:
https://www.wikipedia.org/ [enter "SpaceX BFR" on the search line]). Also:
If it works as advertised, the BFR (Super Heavy/Starship) vehicle will make possible the construction of space colonies such as Kalpana One (see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_habitat ) and Solar Power Satellites (SPSs), using ^terrestrial^ material rather than material mined and electromagnetically shot from the Moon, which Dr. Gerard O'Neill's space colony and SPS studies showed to be necessary in the 1970s. This capability is specifically mentioned in the book, "The High Frontier: An Easier Way," by Tom Marotta and Al Globus (see:
http://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier...y/dp/1719231745 ), and:
Back then, Boeing and Rockwell had developed designs for BFR-type, super heavy-lift SSTO and TSTO space freighter vehicles to support SPS construction (see:
https://www.pmview.com/spaceodyssey...elvs/sld001.htm , especially the fifth section which is titled, "Solar Power Satellites (SPS) and Advanced Launch Vehicles"), but no hardware was built. The BFR will, hopefully, be only the first of a new type of launch vehicle, the true Earth-to-orbit (and beyond--the BFR's Starship stage is planned to be able to land on the Moon and Mars and return to Earth) freight and passenger spaceship. This picture of Elon Musk holding a model of Starship (see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFR_(...)_(cropped).jpg ) is delightfully reminiscent of Tom Swift Jr. and his fantastic spaceship designs! :-)