LazaroFilmThe earth stabilized video of the re-entry also gives a better idea of what was happening.
NotMyOldRedditNameI knew it was spinning, but not that much. Can’t wait to hear the final report on what happened there.
Yeah to me it looked like they didn’t really have any sort of attitude control system (eg RCS thrusters) for while they were in space. As soon as the rocket stopped firing it was spinning, albeit very gently at first.
I’m more interested in knowing what happened with the booster after it’s boost back burn, where some of the engines seemed to shut off on their own before the rest were cut. This issue is likely also responsible for the failed suicide burn. Also, why they didn’t try the orbital relight of the Starship engines. If the orbital relight was skipped because of orientation issues, then shame on them for not remembering that you can stablise your craft in KSP with just a little bit of vectored rocket burn.
These are apparently still just flying grain silos, a long way away from the full finished product. However it does seem like they’re at the cusp of having a viable satellite launch vehicle, even if the re-entry stuff is still bugged.
KSP doesn’t simulate the fuel floating into a big blob in zero g. irl you need working RCS to create a little g force to push the fuel down to where the engine intakes are before you can try starting them.
That’s a very good point and quite likely along the lines of what happened. Could be a challenging thing to fix, and may also have implications for orbital fuel transfers.