‘Normally, major launch sites are engineered with a trench or water system that helps to divert the rocket’s flame away from the ground and to dampen the impact […]“They didn’t do that… It appears they just went ahead and just launched this thing.”’ https://t.co/d0Qq3KmKzX
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) April 21, 2023
… Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starship exploded minutes after liftoff and before reaching orbit. Near the launch site, the residents of Port Isabel, known for its towering lighthouse and less than 10 miles from the border with Mexico, were left to deal with the mess…
Louis Balderas, the founder of LabPadre, which films SpaceX’s launches, said that while it was common to see some debris, smoke and dust, the impact of Thursday’s liftoff was unlike anything he had ever seen.
“There were bowling ball-sized pieces of concrete that came flying out of the launchpad area,” Mr. Balderas said. The blast, he added, had created a crater that he estimated was around 25 feet deep…
Eric Roesch, an expert in environmental compliance and risk assessment who has been tracking SpaceX’s rocket launches, said in an interview that he and others had long warned of the environmental risks to the surrounding region. But without a chemical analysis of the dust and debris, he added, it was difficult to say whether or not they were harmful to human health.
But, Mr. Roesch said, “the presence of that dust kind of indicates to me that the impact modeling was inadequate, because this was not really disclosed as a possible impact.”…
ah I’m sorry I’m getting word now in my earpiece that hydrazines are in fact extremely toxic
— kilgore trout, lawsuit time (@KT_So_It_Goes) April 20, 2023
Move Fast, Break Things Open Thread: SpaceX Rocket Go BoomPost + Comments (118)