SpaceX Grasshopper 250m Test | Ring of Fire

[sofa king]

13. The unmanned components will be first to land vert.

It's the unmanned first stage that you really want back in one piece. It has 9 out of 10 of the Merlin engines you want back as well as the king-size fuel tanks and turbopumps. The second stage isn't nearly as expensive, and a crewed RV should probably be landed where it is safest, rather than cheapest..

Vertically landing a seven-person crew capsule? I'm not sure I see it. I'd put more faith in a paraglider landing system than that, and I wouldn't like that either.

It turns out that I was foolish all those years that I doubted the safety of the shuttle in its one-shot dead-stick landing. I was sure that was what was going to get them all in the end. But I was totally wrong, probably because that's where the crew had the most direct control. I should never have underestimated the reliability of a good pilot.