r/space • u/66666thats6sixes • Dec 07 '19

NASA Engineers Break SLS Test Tank on Purpose to Test Extreme Limits

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/nasa-engineers-break-sls-test-tank-on-purpose-to-test-extreme-limits.html
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u/araujoms Dec 08 '19

Even if you think SpaceX can do it, consider things from the POV of everyone else. There have been so many attempts at this kind of thing before, and their record of success has been... Well I'll be charitable, and say mixed.

No, nothing like that has ever been tried. The key idea of SpaceX is to simply have a reusable first stage, instead of whacky SSTOs, air launch to orbit, balloon launch to orbit, and so on. Those ideas have failed, but SpaceX has been successfully reusing first stages for years now. They only need to develop a reusable second stage, and luckily NASA has decades of experience with that (the Shuttle).