ClaimsElon Musk

“Starship SN10 landed in one piece!”

Elon Musk, posting on X 4 March 2021 Post by @elonmusk on X, 2021-03-04 (X)

Factual Their own work or organisation

Starship SN10 landed intact (as of 4 March 2021).

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

What would count as true or false

Judge the landing on 3–4 March 2021 (US time). True: SN10 touched down on the landing pad intact. A later explosion minutes afterwards does not falsify a claim about the landing. Mostly true: it touched down basically intact but with minor damage, such as a crumpled leg or a lean, while staying in one piece. Mostly false: it hit the ground hard with significant structural damage while some parts held. False: it was destroyed on impact or did not reach the pad intact.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (4)

  1. E1 SpaceX's Starship rocket lands but then explodes BBC News · 4 March 2021

    “But all was not perfect. SN10 was leaning. Its stubby legs deployed at touchdown appeared to have collapsed. And as water hoses tried to extinguish a fire at the base of the vehicle, it suddenly leapt upwards and exploded.”
  2. E2 SpaceX's SN10 Starship prototype lands after epic test launch — but then explodes Space.com · 4 March 2021

    “The Starship SN10 spacecraft touched down successfully after a high-altitude test flight today (March 3), a major milestone for the company and its crewed Mars ambitions.”
  3. E3 SpaceX Starship lands upright, then explodes FlightGlobal · 4 March 2021

    “SpaceX’s Starship Serial Number 10 (SN10) prototype rocket landed safely under its own power after a test flight that took it to an altitude of 33,000ft. Eight minutes later, it blew up.”
  4. E4 Starship SN10: Musk explains why it exploded after landing secnews.gr · 10 March 2021

    ““ 10 m/s (22 miles per hour) resulted in broken legs and parts of the circumference ,” the SpaceX founder said”

Reasoning

Independent reports say SN10 touched down under its own power and landed upright (E2, E3), then exploded about eight minutes later. The criteria say that later explosion does not count against the claim. The BBC says the vehicle was leaning and its legs appeared to have collapsed at touchdown (E1). A later report quotes Musk saying the touchdown speed broke the legs and damaged parts of the circumference (E4). The rocket landed in one piece but with a lean and damaged legs, which is what the criteria describe as mostly true.

Cite this claim

Elon Musk, “Starship SN10 landed intact (as of 4 March 2021).” (said 4 March 2021). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_97223f7822f0, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_97223f7822f0

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Elon Musk, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

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