President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, John Ratcliffe, has boasted on social media that “There’s only one country in the world that can parallel park a 200-foot rocket booster.”
And that would not be the Chinese. Or the Russians.
“We do it,” he said.
CIA Director Nominee John Ratcliffe yesterday: “There’s only one country in the world that can parallel park a 200-foot rocket booster. The Chinese can’t do it. The Russians can’t do it. We do it.” pic.twitter.com/O2Nbsm8zS4
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 16, 2025
Stunning feat was in video thanks to a test launch, the seventh of the SpaceX Starship series.
RedState reported, “Elon Musk has done some astonishing things with SpaceX, including being able to bring back a booster and catch it, in a pretty incredible feat. He managed that again in a stunning display during the seventh flight test of the Starship unmanned mega-rocket from Starbase in South Texas, showing the first time wasn’t a fluke. It had a successful lift-off, then separation of the upper and lower stage, with the lower stage making it back to Starbase to be caught by the tower.”
Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! pic.twitter.com/aq91TloYzY
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2025
We caught the rocket!!
pic.twitter.com/gVv34W9l2n pic.twitter.com/o0vA3XXi8L— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
The day wasn’t without its mishap, however.
The upper part of the rocket, which was supposed to do a “controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean,” instead became part of a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
RedState explained, “In non-nerd language, we would say it blew up.”
The cause has been reported as a fuel leak.
Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!
pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwG— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.
Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2025
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