Hacker News

Favorites Setup
☰
Comment by ssl-3 | original | SpaceX catches the Starship to end Flight 15
[−]ssl-3 · 2026-11-14 Sat 22:10 UTC · link
The goal, as I understand it, is to return the booster with as little fuel as possible at time of catch -- and not run short.

The booster footage indicated to me that its engines turned off, and then the body of the booster imploded, before it touched the ground and then became the expected fireball.

I'm definitely not a rocket scientist, but this series of events leads me to believe that the fuel was absolutely exhausted.

[−]dylan604 · 2026-11-14 Sat 22:33 UTC · link
Sounds like the final boom was intentional from control
[−]ssl-3 · 2026-11-14 Sat 22:37 UTC · link
Perhaps it was, and if so: It occurred subsequent to the implosion.

(In case that distinction is missed, I do mean "implode" as the antonym of "explode".)

[−]oska · 2026-11-15 Sun 02:27 UTC · link
> and then the body of the booster imploded

This was the Flight Termination System (FTS)

[−]ssl-3 · 2026-11-15 Sun 04:18 UTC · link
It terminates via implosion? That sounds backwards.
[−]oska · 2026-11-15 Sun 09:42 UTC · link
Scott Manley explains why there was an implosion after the FTS was triggered here :

https://youtu.be/uwGBBAv8PBI?si=nhuGpQXreMD9U56o&t=565