this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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So, something the article mentions is that SpaceX planned for the rocket to explode. That seems odd, why would they want that? Was it to determine what would happen if it did, or to find weak points that could lead to a catastrophic failure in the event of a manned mission? If so, why did it have to be on a launch pad and not in, say, rural Kentucky? It wasn't going to get off the ground to begin with, so why blow it up on an actual launch pad?
The article that this article links to says that the rocket failing wasn't the outcome they hoped for but since the launch was a test rather than a critical mission they spun it as a learning experience. Also apparently the explosion was a deliberate self-destruct after the engines failed partway up, so at least that system works.
I watched the launch live, they set the expectation that "if it gets off the pad it is a successful test" way before the launch. That wasn't just post failure spin. They certainly didn't complete the mission as planned, but they gathered a lot of valuable data. Something tells me that they didn't expect the pad to be as damaged as it was. I'm guessing their data said there would be damage, but it would be significantly less. Now they know. Unfortunately there are few small errors on a ship that size.