This is a good, easily understandable overview of everything that happened with Starship Serial Number 8 the other day. Perfect for “amateurs” like myself. Turns out it did reach its goal of 12.5 kilometers and the engine failures during ascent were actually deliberate shutdowns so they could get more data about shutdown and restarts and how the other engines react to problems. There at the end something went wrong with the tank and the engines didn’t get the right mixture of fuel and propellant so it wasn’t able to slow down enough in the last moments.
Starship Serial Number 9 is already assembled and was waiting patently for it’s turn to give it a try, but someone shot a picture of it tipped over in the hangar, leaning against the wall. Hopefully they didn’t damage it too much, but if they can’t keep it upright in the hangar, how are they going to drive it fully assembled to the launch pad? This shows the difference between SpaceX and NASA. NASA likes to take a decade or more to do everything perfectly the first time, with absolute precision, in climate-controlled clean-rooms, regardless of the cost to taxpayers. SpaceX likes to take a few months to throw something together as quickly and cheaply as possible, in this case literally inside tents. Then they see if it blows up, getting as much data as possible along the way. Refine, and try again.