In article ,
says...
Meanwhile when the full scale BFS is complete, it can start doing
"hops" in order to validate their vertical landing strategy. At one
point Musk said the first stage will land back on its launch platform.
I'm not sure if that is still the plan or not, but if it is, I would
think a bit of testing of that would be in order. It certainly sounds
like that landing mode will be like threading a needle. Throw in a good
crosswind and I'm sure landing the BFR first stage will be "sporting".


Ugh, I meant the BFR first stage here, not BFS. What I was getting at
there is that the landing mode for the BFR first stage is "sporting"
since Musk has said it will land on its launch platform.

So far Musk hasn't said much about the BFR first stage so we don't have
any idea when it might start to fly. It's likely considered to be low
risk since it has a flight profile similar to the Falcon 9 first stages
and Falcon Heavy boosters and center core. Still, I would think a few
"Grasshopper" style flights would be in order before stacking a BFS on
top of it for an "all up" test flight.

Jeff
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