Comment by NetMageSCW
12 hours ago
They could have made orbit at any time on any flights that reached space. they have deliberately not done so because that is the safest thing to do when developing.
12 hours ago
They could have made orbit at any time on any flights that reached space. they have deliberately not done so because that is the safest thing to do when developing.
I don't see how that gives them credit. Yes of course they could have burned the engines for a little longer and reached orbit
Were they confident that they could relight the engines and get it back out of orbit? This very test seemed to answer "no"