[John V.]

Anybody watching NASA’s hot fire test today?

One of my son’s is a Boeing engineer involved in the project.

Pretty cool for those of us that grew up with the space program in the ‘60s.

[tempest1964]

Thanks John V, I grew up with the space program. Always found it interesting

[John V.]

Link to NASA TV with the live feed.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public

They are in a hold right now. Have been interviewing a young NASA engineer explaining what is happening. Still expecting it to light up today.

If you are within 50 miles of Bay St. Louis you should be able to hear it.

[getmygoat]

It shut down after one of the planned 8 minutes. Word on the street is that the whole rocket needs to be shipped on a barge back to florida for processing (6 days each way + processing time).

Typical government cluster project. SpaceX is going to beat them to the moon for 1/10 the price.

[PontiacJim1959]

Originally Posted by John V.

Link to NASA TV with the live feed.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public

They are in a hold right now. Have been interviewing a young NASA engineer explaining what is happening. Still expecting it to light up today.

If you are within 50 miles of Bay St. Louis you should be able to hear it.

I clearly remember sitting in the living room watching the black & white TV and the Apollo moon landing with my parents and brother. It was really exciting for all of us to watch. I was 10 years old.

The video link says they are firing a rocket to the sun. Hmmm. I guess they will go at night so it doesn't burn up.

[John V.]

I'm not aware of any company developing a moon rocket independently. SpaceX has gotten significant government funding. But they already beat Boeing in launching astronauts.

Boeing and NASA are unlikely to openly admit that the test today was an embarrassing failure and major program setback but hard to escape the reality. So SpaceX may in fact overtake them. Depends what happened and why.

The Core Stage was built by Boeing near New Orleans then barged to Stennis (Mississsippi) for various testing. It won't be sent to Florida unless and until it is ready for launch prep. Conceivably, it will need to return to Boeing's facility at Michoud Assembly.

Re-purposing old shuttle rocket engines was intended to speed the program development. But they were originally designed to be reusable. My understanding is that the Core Stage engines are not intended to be reused so that new production engines will be disposable by design to reduce cost. SpaceX's Falcon 9 approach was to develop a partially reusable rocket that may prove to be a superior design solution. Time will tell.

Pretty cynical to describe the project as a "typical government cluster". Unless you believe that space exploration in general is a waste of the public treasury (that case is certainly arguable). But even Musk would not claim that he can launch astronauts to the moon at 1/10 the cost of the Boeing SLS.. I do give Musk credit for doing more with less government funding. And I think the competition is ultimately healthy.

I haven't spoken to my son but I expect today was a big morale crusher. Will wait to see if Boeing is able to bounce back.

[dataway]

I'm a huge fan of technology and of the original space program. I feel going to moon was something we needed to do at the time to prove something to ourselves and to advance the science.

But at present, other than space travel to serve a useful purpose for the earth itself, such as satellites, perhaps some zero gravity manufacturing, I think all the talk and planing for moonbases, men to Mars etc. is a colossal waste of time and money. In this day and age there are incredibly difficult problems to be solved right here on earth, there is no need to search for them elsewhere.

At the present level of technology any sustained human presence on another heavenly body is not only unimaginably expensive but would represent probably the worst return on investment in the history of mankind. There is nothing to be learned, or accomplished that could not be done with a machine presence instead.

That could change in the future with different material technologies, drive systems, energy generation etc. But for now ... how about working on Fusion power, or any of the hundreds of engineering and technical challenges right here on earth that would reap for greater rewards for mankind.