Elon Musk's SpaceX launched the first-ever integrated Starship rocket on April 20, 2023, from the Starbase facility at Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.  Boca Chica Village, a remote Texas outpost, lies at the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico, where the Earths glory coexists with the awe-inspiring silhouettes of SpaceX's Starship rockets, symbolizing the union of natures beauty and human ambition. Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Boca Chica has fewer than 50 residents and before SpaceX arrived the site didn’t have electricity, water, or sewer.  5 years ago some of  the smartest engineers from all over the world converged on the small desert strip motivated by a singular gargantuan mission: Make humanity a multi planetary species. These engineers moved to the middle of nowhere and many of them lived in trailers because they were so motivated by their mission.  The 394-foot-tall Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off successfully and flew for about 4 minutes. For comparison, Lansing's tallest building, the Boji Tower, reaches a height of 297 feet. In contrast, the complete Starship system, including the Super Heavy booster, stands approximately 394 feet tall, making it around 100 feet taller than Lansing's highest structure. Starship Passed Max Q. Passing Max Q is a very important milestone. Max Q, short for maximum dynamic pressure, is the point during a rocket's ascent when it experiences the greatest aerodynamic stress. It occurs when the combination of the rocket's velocity and the density of the Earth's atmosphere results in the highest pressure on the rocket's structure. This is a critical moment in the flight, as the rocket has to be designed to withstand the structural load it experiences at Max Q. Once the rocket passes through Max Q, the air pressure decreases as it climbs higher, reducing the stress on the vehicle. However, the Starship upper stage failed to separate from the Super Heavy first stage about three minutes after liftoff, resulting in an explosion just under four minutes into the launch. This destruction was intentional, as the vehicle experienced multiple engine failures during the flight test and lost altitude. Despite the explosion, SpaceX celebrated the progress made during the test, as the rocket reached a maximum altitude of about 24 miles and passed Max Q. An Aside: What is “Rocket Stage?” Why does it separate? Imagine you want to launch a rocket into space. The rocket is made up of different parts, and each part has a special job to do to help the rocket reach its destination. The different parts of a rocket are called "stages." Each stage is like a piece of the rocket that is designed to work at a different time during the launch. When the rocket takes off, it needs a lot of power to overcome the force of gravity and lift off the ground. The first stage of the rocket is usually the largest and has the most powerful engines. These engines use a lot of fuel to provide the initial thrust needed to lift the rocket off the ground. As the rocket climbs higher into the sky, it starts to move faster and faster. At a certain point, the first stage of the rocket has used up all its fuel and can no longer provide enough power to lift the rocket any higher. That's when the first stage separates from the rest of the rocket. After the first stage separates, the second stage takes over. The second stage has its own engines and fuel supply. It's designed to work at higher altitudes and with less air resistance than the first stage. The second stage continues to push the rocket higher and higher until it reaches its destination. The reason why the stages separate is to make the rocket lighter and more efficient. Once a stage has used up all its fuel, it becomes dead weight that the rest of the rocket has to carry. By separ