I was thinking the same thing about the number of cameras and the quality of the images. Space X is the best by far. But the 7 engine booster they built is in Saturn V range. Impressive.
In size only. New Glenn has less payload capability than Falcon Heavy, and even less compared to Starship. Of course there are differences in approach and various ways to compare (e.g. # of engines, etc), but bottom line is how much payload to orbit.
Elon's idea was clustering 32 separate motors, which is more the Soviet method. Advantage: if one or even 2 or 3 or even more shut down, the mission can go on. The other engines take on the load. The engines are also smaller and easier to work on / maintain with more duplicated parts. Disadvantage, the complexity and weight go up in redundancy. Blue Origin went more the US method. But if they lose one engine the mission may fail. With 2 certainly it would fail. There's no right or wrong answer but its interesting they went in opposite directions.
Agreed. Space-X has done a tremendous job in reducing the complexity of the Raptor engine. If may lose some efficiency (ISP), but again the redundancy and bottom line overall vehicle payload are what matters. It is cool seeing fewer engines, with larger nozzles, and flame extending way longer (on the order of the vehicle length).
Impressive that they made it to orbit on their first launch. Has anyone else done that? RocketLab made it on their second, and would have made it on their first but for an error by their (US) launch safety team, but still...
Saturn V first launch... "the first launch of the Saturn V rocket, which occurred during the Apollo 4 mission on November 9, 1967, did not go into orbit in the traditional sense for human spaceflight. Instead, it was an unmanned test flight where the rocket successfully placed the Command and Service Module into Earth orbit."
Saturn V, though, was one of a series of boosters built by NASA, through subcontractors. Their earlier attempts were not all perfect. The first attempt, arguably, was the Vanguard, and it failed. SLS is simply a further derivative.
The Saturn V when twice around the world on its first flight. But you are correct. This is Blue Origins first flight of this rocket and their first time in orbit. Impressive.
