re: SpaceX is about to blow up a rocket

At the post-launch press conference, Bridenstine and Musk said hardware for manned launch will be ready end of Feb and manned launch is probable 2Q 2020 (Apr-Jun).

So they self destructed it? The only link I found didn't have a good view of it due to the cloud coverage. I guess there isn't really a way to get around that,huh?

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So they self destructed it? The only link I found didn't have a good view of it due to the cloud coverage. I guess there isn't really a way to get around that,huh?

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Yeah, they were testing the range safety equipment while they were at it because the inclination of the ISS means that a manned launch brings the rocket much closer to land than a typical equatorial satellite launch. A satellite launch typically goes more straight out to sea from Florida while a launch to the ISS is going to basically head more Northeasterly to catch up with the ISS as it flies overhead from Southwest to Northeast. The trajectory more or less parallels the Eastern seaboard as the rocket rises and starts building horizontal velocity to match the orbital inclination of the ISS at about 51 degrees to the equator. Because it takes far less deviation on this trajectory to point the rocket back toward populated areas, there is little leeway for a rocket steering off course before it's blown up remotely. With aborts, you typically just rupture the propellant tanks of the booster as a matter of course because shite's already gone pear shaped to cause the abort, so you just blow up the booster to make sure the pieces land in the ocean. I'd imagine SpaceX will be looking at this to see if there are abort circumstances that may allow them to save the booster in the future. However, since aborts on launch are generally propulsion, guidance, or trajectory related and would either make return to land impossible or necessitate destruction of the booster to protect people anyway, that might be a fool's errand.

Incidentally, the ISS also passes over Florida from Northwest to Southeast, but not only is it more expensive in terms of fuel required to match the ISS orbit when it passes overhead moving this direction, but the rocket would overfly all kinds of populated land as it flies over the Caribbean so they don't do it. Overflight of populated areas is a big no-no for NASA, though other countries that rhyme with Russia and China aren't nearly as worried about dropping boosters on people and regularly overfly their own population.

SpaceX's internal feed has good video of the capsule separating and pulling away while the rocket turns into light and noise.

Rocket go boom.