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thewayneThe booster, B1058, had two historic high-points in its life. It was the first private space flight to launch people to the International Space Station, which is quite an achievement in and of itself. But the thing that has really made SpaceX's name is the reusability of its boosters: 1058 has made NINETEEN LAUNCHES!
Sadly, its nineteenth recovery was not 100% successful.
It landed on its landing craft, as it was designed to do, but a combination of very rough seas and high winds did it in. It ultimately toppled and broke in half, the top half of the booster falling into the sea.
Part of the problem is that it is an old booster, and the recovery ships are unmanned. A manned ship they could have chained down the landing struts and better secured it, but then you're risking human lives if there's problems in the landing. The other problem with the booster's age is that the new boosters have auto-leveling features in the landing struts: in heavy seas and winds, they can compensate for the booster shifting and rebalance it, at least to a certain degree. And 1058 did not have those features retrofitted.
The recovered parts of 1058 will still be of value as the engines will be recovered and everything else will be studied to see how well it held up over 19 launches. Ultimately it will probably be put on display somewhere.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/a-commanders-lament-on-the-loss-of-a-historic-spacex-rocket/
Sadly, its nineteenth recovery was not 100% successful.
It landed on its landing craft, as it was designed to do, but a combination of very rough seas and high winds did it in. It ultimately toppled and broke in half, the top half of the booster falling into the sea.
Part of the problem is that it is an old booster, and the recovery ships are unmanned. A manned ship they could have chained down the landing struts and better secured it, but then you're risking human lives if there's problems in the landing. The other problem with the booster's age is that the new boosters have auto-leveling features in the landing struts: in heavy seas and winds, they can compensate for the booster shifting and rebalance it, at least to a certain degree. And 1058 did not have those features retrofitted.
The recovered parts of 1058 will still be of value as the engines will be recovered and everything else will be studied to see how well it held up over 19 launches. Ultimately it will probably be put on display somewhere.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/a-commanders-lament-on-the-loss-of-a-historic-spacex-rocket/
