Re: Starship
@Arthur:
"Given that the first flight of any new rocket tends to end in RUD, maybe the first one should be called "Big Bada Boom"."
I like the joke, but... The Sputnik rocket didn't. Nor did the Saturn V, or the Saturn I. Or Black Knight. Or SpaceX's Falcon 9. Ariane 1 worked the first time (if not the second). Oh yes, an awful lot of first flights of a new rocket blew up, but a remarkable number didn't. Robert Goddard's first liquid fuelled rocket might not have flown high or fast, but even that one didn't explode.
Here's another that didn't:
<https://youtu.be/PNigku8jz48?t=18348>
Biting the hand that feeds IT
