Always wondered how they'd protect the flaps.

OMG I think that was a near successful landing, at least based on the telemetry. What a test!

Wow, amazing test. Closer and closer.

While RainMan pretends the Shuttle program is something other than defunct, the rest of us can appreciate some remarkable milestones from this flight. Both Booster and Ship have splashed down.

Not so crazy to think a Booster catch just may happen in the next flight test or two.

Almost as important as the test itself: that shouldn't trigger a mishap investigation, so hopefully FAA approval won't be a holdup for the next one.

I wonder if they'll try to recover either vehicle? Super Heavy isn't that far off the coast. Lol

At this point the licensing is increasingly streamlined. They’ll probably soon have approvals that cover multiple flight tests.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations and a huge thank you to our extraordinary <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> team! <br><br>Successful Super Heavy launch and landing, “orbital” ship (that’s one tough cookie!) entry, engine relight and splashdown. I hope you enjoyed the views, the music and see you back soon for our next flight!</p>&mdash; Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gwynne_Shotwell/status/1798720396721864717?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And NASA is excited, as expected.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> on Starship&#39;s successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Artemis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Artemis</a>—then looking onward to Mars. <a href="https://t.co/0NAouIpbxq">https://t.co/0NAouIpbxq</a></p>&mdash; Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenBillNelson/status/1798719358816186391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Starliner docking is coming up in about an hour. It'll be on NASA's channels, though I'll admit that docking isn't exactly riveting to watch.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">See these views of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Starliner?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Starliner</a> from <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a> as commander Butch Wilmore and pilot <a href="https://twitter.com/Astro_Suni?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Astro_Suni</a> approach for docking operations during the Crew Flight Test. <a href="https://t.co/3K6s4AwMHD">pic.twitter.com/3K6s4AwMHD</a></p>&mdash; Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoeingSpace/status/1798731895976624348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It sounds like they've had a couple more helium leaks, but the system is super redundant, so they're proceeding with the test as planned.

They''re experimenting. They're not exploring, at least not in a physical context. I'm not saying it's not valuable, but the designers of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria weren't explorers.

Are people on ISS explorers? How about space probes?

Probes are explorers. People on the ISS are workers.

Rain Man being autistic. The only part of this back and forth that adds up.

https://y.yarn.co/7dcc05cc-42bb-4066...fa569_text.gif

That seems extremely myopic to me. At worst, these kinds of tests are aimed at ENABLING exploration even if you want to be pedantic about what "exploration" entails.