Eminently Foreseeable; SpaceX Ed.

SpaceX launched the largest rocket ever built for the first time on Thursday from its Boca Chica, Texas, spaceport. The Starship spacecraft, designed to fly people on a Mars mission someday, lifted off the launch pad then blew up in mid-flight, with no crew on board.

Now, residents and researchers are scrambling to assess the impact of the explosion on local communities, their health, habitat and wildlife including endangered species. Of primary concern is the large amount of sand- and ash-like particulate matter and heavier debris kicked up by the launch. The particulate emissions spread far beyond the expected debris field.

As a result of the explosion, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the company’s Starship Super Heavy launch program pending results of a “mishap investigation,” part of standard practice, according to an email from the agency sent to CNBC after the launch. No injuries or public property damage had yet been reported to the agency as of Friday.

Anybody who had experience launching rockets more powerful than an Estes model rocket could have foreseen this. SpaceX launched a rocket that had a maximum thrust of two Saturn Vs. After engine start, it sat on the pad for six seconds, building thrust, and those nincompoops thought that they could get away with launching from a pad with no blast protection.

That suggests, at least to me, that SpaceX is operating on a Sillicon Valley mindset, rather than an aerospace mindset. The Silicon Velley mindset is to say "ecch, close enough" and if things blow up or people die, that's the price of progress. That includes doing things that anyone with even a glib understanding of things, would have said "no fucking way, dude."

When they start putting passengers on board SpaceX's Starship, Musk can go first. And you know and I know that he never would.