SpaceflightMemes

633 readers

92 users here now

A Lemmy analogue to r/SpaceXMasterRace.

Related communities for serious posts and discussion.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

threelonmusketeers

NASA after watching Starship IFT-5 (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 weeks ago by threelonmusketeers to c/spaceflightmemes

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Tar_alcaran 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

General question.

NASA won't send crew up with Starship because it doesn't have a crew-abort system, like SLS, or basically any "conventional" rocket system.

But the shuttle didn't really have an emergency abort system either, other than dropping the shuttle off of the booster and fuel tank. Is the difference that Starship can't seperate from it's tank, because it's not like the shuttle could drop its internal tanks either.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Did NASA ever actually say that about Starship?

Shuttle had abort modes that mostly involve landing "normally". After jettisoning the SRBs, depending on how far it got and the target inclination, it could return to launch site, land in Europe or Africa, do one orbit then land back in the US, or abort to a lower than intended orbit, which actually happened once after an engine failure.

Starship can also do a pad abort, where the whole ship / upper stage separates from the 1st stage.