A distant glimpse of the party at Starbase last night:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark" data-cards="hidden" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mechazilla party in the High Bay!<a href="https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5">https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5</a> <a href="https://t.co/ejHpVev5Il">pic.twitter.com/ejHpVev5Il</a></p>&mdash; Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1845686431462617374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mechazilla party in the High Bay!<a href="https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5">https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5</a> <a href="https://t.co/ejHpVev5Il">pic.twitter.com/ejHpVev5Il</a></p>&mdash; Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1845686431462617374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Not exactly "hungover" today. But tired AF!

NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft Launch.

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Europa Clipper will perform follow-up studies to those made by the Galileo spacecraft during its eight years (1995–2003) in Jupiter orbit, which indicated the existence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were initially conceived with projects such as Europa Orbiter and Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, in which a spacecraft would be injected into orbit around Europa. However, due to the adverse effects of radiation from Jupiter's magnetosphere in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to inject a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 44 close flybys of the moon instead. The mission began as a joint investigation between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and was built with a scientific payload of nine instruments contributed by JPL, APL, Southwest Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and University of Colorado Boulder. Europa Clipper complements ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, launched in 2023, which will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.

Europa Clipper was launched on October 14, 2024, aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket in a fully expended configuration. The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars in February 2025 and Earth in December 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030.

The spacecraft is larger than any other used for previous NASA planetary missions.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/zEiq8i68lM">pic.twitter.com/zEiq8i68lM</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1846157694492676169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark" data-cards="hidden" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Spacex employees cheer and congratulate each other as they welcome booster home after it&#39;s first successful landing. A job well done. <a href="https://t.co/qlg85obbI1">pic.twitter.com/qlg85obbI1</a></p>&mdash; Anthony Gomez (@AnthonyFGomez) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyFGomez/status/1846276114328834351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Spacex employees cheer and congratulate each other as they welcome booster home after it&#39;s first successful landing. A job well done. <a href="https://t.co/qlg85obbI1">pic.twitter.com/qlg85obbI1</a></p>&mdash; Anthony Gomez (@AnthonyFGomez) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyFGomez/status/1846276114328834351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Super Heavy Booster 12 returns triumphantly to the Starbase production site!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Onboard view showing a catch fitting on Super Heavy as it contacts a chopstick catch beam <a href="https://t.co/r1TVQEdITc">pic.twitter.com/r1TVQEdITc</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1845966756579627167?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It's still crazy to me that they are able to orient it so precisely to catch on those little hooks.

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This footage is so damn good.

https://i.postimg.cc/xTs5tGPq/GJNg-Yu-YXEAAKTn.jpg

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Starship flip maneuver and landing burn on its fifth flight test. Vehicle improvements ensured flaps were protected from high heating, resulting in a controlled entry and high accuracy splashdown at the targeted area in the Indian Ocean <a href="https://t.co/nLIQLLVMv1">pic.twitter.com/nLIQLLVMv1</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1847368836947071496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Flight Test 6 is only about 4 weeksish away, if you can believe that!

Booster 13 static fire later today.

I thought it was being caught on the grid fins at first until I saw the view from the tower. That is not a large target.

Booster 13 Static Fire Test
 

Should be soon, pre-fire venting underway.

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That'll buff out...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BhGw5eDwoeA?si=exyYjt13IscBOcMT&amp;start=295" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark" data-cards="hidden" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Musk seems to be gaming while SpaceX staff brief him on Starship Flight 5. &quot;We were one second away from telling the rocket to abort... and try to crash into the ground next to the tower&quot; someone in the background says. <a href="https://t.co/WoFEFM6oRu">https://t.co/WoFEFM6oRu</a></p>&mdash; Joey Roulette (@joroulette) <a href="https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1849917452202934572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2024</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">T150 clear in 3:25. Too much time spent killing minions vs elites. Had &lt;3 min potential. <a href="https://t.co/oYRqqpVyGe">pic.twitter.com/oYRqqpVyGe</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1849914261482652113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yeah 😂</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1849939578775572607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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