Post #9003

New photo of the damage left at the pad after yesterday's launch A fair criticism is that SpaceX should have better prevented this through improvements before the flight but there's more to it. They've never flown a booster or full stack, or fired this many engines before which is why clearing the pad and tower was a measure of success. An early explosion likely would have destroyed whatever pad improvements could have been made. This damage isn't good but the surrounding ground equipment wasn't annihilated. This will be an opportunity to observe the effects of such thrust to fix it for future flights. This will take time, but by far the biggest delays in the past were with the licence which has now been granted and is valid for 5 years. We'll keep you updated on the timelines once more is known. At least SuperHeavy got started on the digging! PhotoSource: @unrocket