Highlights from the crane move yesterday and the work done today to connect it to SN9. It doesn’t appear they’ve moved it at all yet, but there may have been a lot of work going on below SN9 obscured by the fence. A new support frame to replace the failed one under SN9 did show up on site today and it’s shown in the video.
(Message edited by Hughlysses on December 12, 2020)
Looks like the SpaceX crews worked most of last night; SN9 is once again vertical:
The guys on one of the forums found this pre-tilt photo, which shows the stand had legs added to raise it higher, and apparently 2 Raptor engines were already installed (this had previously been done on the launch mount). I’d guess those 2 changes contributed to the unexpected sudden tilt.
Very glad to see they got it upright without hurting anyone, damaging the rocket further, or knocking down the building!
They lifted SN9 out of the high bay today, apparently replaced the support stand, and swung it back inside. Sharp-eyed observers at the NASA Spaceflight forum spotted a couple of areas of damage on the original support frame; it appears at least one of the “elephant legs” they added below the support frame kicked out, causing the whole thing to tip over.
Otherwise, the right side forward “Eloneron” is pretty mangled, the right side aft “Eloneron” has some minor damage, and there’s one dent in the side of the nose cone that can be seen.
Hopefully there’s nothing they can’t fix in a few days and get this one flying.
Posted on Wednesday, February 03, 2021 - 04:25 pm:
So, SN9 had a similar flight yesterday (2/2/21). Everything went perfectly up to the point they tried to relight 2 of the engines. One started without a problem; the other started spitting metal parts, the ship went past vertical and impacted at an angle of about 30 degrees and exploded.
SN10 is already sitting on the launch mount almost ready to go. I’m sure they’ll make some adjustments and try again soon.
