Hacker News

Favorites Setup
Comment by GMoromisato | original | SpaceX catches the Starship to end Flight 15
[−]GMoromisato · 2026-11-15 Sun 02:53 UTC · link
Don't sweat it. Lots of Starship fans (myself included) are overly sensitive because there is so much bad-faith criticism out there.

Still, I think you're discounting the accomplishment here. Boosters have reflown after a catch, so re-usable engines is already demonstrated. And heat shield reuse is going to be iterative: the first few will require lots of work, but they will keep improving until the tiles last for many missions.

But you can't iterate if you don't get the ship back in one piece. That's what makes this accomplishment important.

[−]elif · 2026-11-15 Sun 18:17 UTC · link
Way more engines have blown up during their first use than have been reused.

Calling it a fully reusable vehicle is just fantasty.