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Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Google isn’t waiting to get the May Pixel / Android security updates out.

    For anyone keeping their Android phone current with the latest patches, Google has two new patch levels, dated for the first and the fifth of this month, to address security issues discovered on the platform; you can get all the info on those right here.

    And for Google Pixel owners, here are the details on the May update, which is supposed to improve touch screen response on the Pixel 7 Pro and address a glitch that could make lock screen elements overlap with the home screen launcher UI.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Lo-fi beats to orbit the Earth to.

    Whether you put this up on the big screen now or bookmark it for a later session, NASA’s put together nearly an hour of 4K footage of the Earth with some relaxing music for your screensaving needs.

    The videos were captured over the last year from the International Space Station during Expeditions 67 and 68.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The Starship took a chunk out of its launch tower and everything underneath.

    This picture, apparently posted to a forum for Beechcraft airplane owners, claims to show the damage underneath the tower where Starship launched on Thursday.

    In some video footage of the launch, you can see what’s said to be large pieces of concrete flying into the air along with Starship.

    Elon Musk previously tweeted that not building in a flame diverter “could turn out to be a mistake,” but it looks like Starship dug one of its own anyway, prompting several people to say the company designed reusable rockets with single use launch mounts.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Starship flight test report.

    SpaceX’s official word on the flight test and explosion:

    At 8:33 a.m. CT, Starship successfully lifted off from the orbital launch pad for the first time. The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship. As is standard procedure, the pad and surrounding area was cleared well in advance of the test, and we expect the road and beach near the pad to remain closed until tomorrow.

    With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship.

    Thank you to our customers, Cameron County, and the wider community for the continued support and encouragement. And congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first flight test of Starship!

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The Starship launch wrecked this minivan.

    A van holding cameras for the NASASpaceFlight crew took the impact of debris kicked up by SpaceX’s Starship launch yesterday, as seen in this grab from LabPadre’s broadcast.

    But the dust didn’t stop there — the New York Times reports homes in cities miles away were covered in brown grime, supporting claims that the projections for environmental impact didn’t properly account for the power of the Super Heavy booster.

    Now WhatsApp can save ‘disappearing’ messages if the sender consentsNow WhatsApp can save ‘disappearing’ messages if the sender consents
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    You think you know a person.

    And then you find out (again) that they pay for Twitter Blue. (We still love Joanna, obviously.)

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    This is where Starship went off track.

    We don’t know why the first Starship test flight ended in flames, but this shot posted on Twitter by Michael Baylor provides the clearest look at the spacecraft as it started to go off the planned flight path.

    On the NASASpaceflight YouTube stream, the hosts noted a report that 5 or 6 of the booster rocket engines shut down before the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” ended things entirely.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The next Starship test launch will come “in a few months.”

    After years of waiting, the first orbital test flight for SpaceX’s Starship ended explosively after a few minutes. Now Elon Musk says in a tweet that the team “Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    More views.

    Another look at the Starship launch.

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