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Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost (arstechnica.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The asymmetric design terrifies me. Fuel tank on the side? Absolutely bonkers. And yet it totally worked.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Fuel tank on the side? Absolutely bonkers.

And not just on the side, but the heatshield side. In retrospect, it's possible that designing it so the heat shield faced outward (further from any falling insulation) might have been safer.

And yet it totally worked.

Well, it mostly worked. 133/135 ain't bad, but statistics hit different for crewed vehicles.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

My understanding is that the payload bay had to be accessible while stacking, so tank on the other side wouldn't work.