The damage to the actual heatshield seems worse than Flight 10. The aerocover is in tatters both at the top and along the seal. Much more burnthrough on the body. Flaps seem fine though pic.twitter.com/fb2HA2r4Zo
— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) October 14, 2025
— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) October 14, 2025
Whole sheet of metal barely hanging on at the base of the aerocover lol. All the tiles on it ripped off pic.twitter.com/WrtVoPRf4K
— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) October 14, 2025
The fire coming out of the payload bay is super odd to me. Repressed with nitrogen so that shouldn't do it. There's only one source of gch4 near there and that'd be the autogen for the main tank. Unless that popped again....I'm out of ideas pic.twitter.com/dUXS1FPSs4
— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) October 14, 2025
Wait, was I right?
— Mookafish (@FishMooka) October 14, 2025
There is clearly something leaking out of the ship. https://t.co/1gjl2bGpo4 pic.twitter.com/IagWn1JlFP
This video of the Starship touchdown is INCREDIBLE
— Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) (@DrChrisCombs) October 14, 2025
-BUT-
Ship 11 did not hold up as well as I initially thought. This thing was literally cooked. Nose on fire. Tiles missing everywhere. Lots of damage near flaps and burnthrough on tank. How reusable would this be? pic.twitter.com/7MXrp3V6YM
I wonder that as well
— Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) (@DrChrisCombs) October 14, 2025
Despite V3 being essentially a completely new vehicle (different engines, different pad, new tank designs, plumbing, grid fins etc etc) I feel better about it. I hope they nail it from the start, but I could take 1-2 novel failures. I'll be mad if its 4 again lol.
— Ken Kirtland IV (@KenKirtland17) October 14, 2025