What comes next?
Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!
OK, not tomorrow, but next Sunday, for the next Starship attempt.
[Monday-morning update
Stephen Clark has the story on what went wrong on previous flights, and what they’ve done to prevent a recurrence.
But I have no idea what the phrase “human-rated lander” means.
[Sunday-afternoon update]
Less than two hours to go, weather permitting.
Starship 10 launching tonight https://t.co/EOgGbS3Om7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2025
[Bumped]
[Tuesday-morning update]
Third time’s the charm?
[Mid-morning update]
My assessment of the SpaceX flight test today: It was a spectacularly successful flight, with a huge wealth of data. It demonstrated the ability to deliver payloads to orbit, and to deorbit after doing so. While I'm not SpaceX, I personally consider it fully operational for the…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) August 27, 2025
I would add that the robustness of the design of Starship for entry was fully demonstrated as well. Obviously they will want to shed fewer parts, but it came back like a shot-up B-17.
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) August 27, 2025
"we removed over 2,100 tiles, we are flying an older generation heat shield, flaps are missing on the nosecone, we are flying a very steep profile to test the aft flaps, we do not expect the ship to survive"
— Maxarick (@Maxarick) November 19, 2024
S31: pic.twitter.com/SVmU9z9TxG
[Bumped]
[Afternoon update]
Here‘s the report from SpaceX itself.
[Thursday-morning update]
Plans for the near future:
This slide needs an update, but gives a rough idea of what we’re aiming for with V3 and V4.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 27, 2025
V3 should be built & tested (maybe flown) by end of this year.
V4 is 2027. Probably closer to 150m height and 7500 tons. pic.twitter.com/5WSUR8MORt
Versions 1 and 2 were proof of concept; versions 3 and 4 will be the operational ones.
[Update early afternoon]
This is the most badass spaceflight photo I have seen in a long, long time. pic.twitter.com/4E9BQKEuwG
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) August 28, 2025
[Update a few minutes later]
When Ship 37 blew up after its splashdown 🖤: pic.twitter.com/37AndaOZOf
— Renata Konkoly 🚘⚡🪡 (@RenataKonkoly) August 28, 2025
Don’t anthromorphize spaceships; they hate when you do that.
“Journalism”
Time to dump it.
[Wednesday-morning update]
Related: Stop tolerating the toxic ideas of black radicals.
Recursive Improvement In AI
Thoughts from Eric Drexler.
Inseparable
Sister and brother Ashe and Ember weren’t quite like this when we adopted them, but we did want to keep them together, and they’re a team.
A guy wanted to adopt a cat, but he wouldn't leave his brother's side, so he had to take both of them.pic.twitter.com/Z4YqwB12OI
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 26, 2025
The History Of Palestine
This is brilliant.
Palestinian history (if we're to believe Palestinians)
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) August 26, 2025
1,000,000 BCE:
The first Palestinian emerges from the sea.
20,000 BCE:
Early Palestinians learn how to make fire.
“We make state now?”
“Not yet.”
10,000 BCE:
Early Palestinians invent the wheel.
“We make state now?”
“Not…
A Film Festival
An anti-Communist film festival.
The time is right. People like Castro, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, Che, and others should be greeted with at least as much opprobrium as Nazis and Hitler.
Gavin Newsom
The chameleon that destroyed California.
It’s not destroyed yet, and I still hold out hope, but he and the Democrats have certainly done a lot of damage, and it should be a cautionary warning against him as a presidential candidate.
Democrats Demand A New Constitution
Let’s give them one.
The House of Repeal is a good idea, but I’d still like to see a sunset amendment.
Phil McAlister
An interesting interview on the prospects for NASA and commercial space.