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Comment by afterburner | Hacker News Reader

This is honestly the first really cool thing SpaceX is doing IMO.

I would say the boosters landing on drone ships and getting reused 8 times are pretty impressive. Also the Starship landing with the flip.

Yeah, those were cool. But not really cool.

Self landing boosters is just the logical application of control algorithms. As with the "flip".

Super Heavy Boosters, on the other hand, are an interesting new way to solve a problem.

> logical application of control algorithms.

LOL. Reusable rockets left as an exercise for the reader.

It has to be a troll…

Come on guys, computerized directional thrust maneuvering isn't even new for this millenium, let alone this decade.

It's the difference between iteration and bigger breakthroughs/shifts in technology.

Lol, you're a funny person

The test hops that spacex and blue origin did are impressive yes, but you are missing the most impressive part! The booster that landed pushed something to orbital velocity. Getting any significant amount of payload (1-4% of total mass) to orbit is difficult but adding the fuel and equipment needed to accurately land the first stage is another level.

It doesn't take that much extra fuel to land a thing. You have gravity helping you go down, unlike when you're going up. You also have friction to slow you down, which is desirable, unlike when you're trying to speed up.

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