lift-off
For a failed rocket launch, there sure was a lot of cheering.
When Relativity Space, a California start-up that aims to compete against SpaceX, finally launched its Terran 1 rocket manufactured almost entirely by 3D printing, it achieved so many of the milestones the company had hoped for.
It lifted off successfully from its pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11.25pm (5.25am South African time) on Wednesday. It survived the perilous moment of maximum dynamic pressure, where speed and the still-thick atmosphere conspire to tear rockets apart.
