Day #3991 (Wed., Dec. 9, 2020) – Starship Explodes
We had a bit of excitement today as far as space exploration goes. The Starship that Elon Musk is developing got off the ground today after having the mission scrubbed yesterday. Today was the first time ever that it performed it’s “belly flop” maneuver. This is the maneuver that it will need to perform if it is going to be able to re-enter earth’s atmosphere after returning from space. All went well for SN8 (i.e.: Serial Number 8) until it tried to land. There was a huge explosion (see photo to the right). Elon Musk said that the flight was a huge success though as they gained all the data that they needed.
It was hard to get the kids to put their computers down and come and watch, but it’s important to see milestones like this. By the time they are my age flights to Mars might be commonplace. I’m glad that I own some TSLA stock. Who knows what it will be worth by the time they land on Mars?