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walrus01 a day ago

That's for sure not stage separation, that's an explosion from the FTS rupturing the ship tanks.

ericcumbee a day ago | parent | next [-]

If it was the FTS wouldn't the flight control systems send a message back to the ground saying "things are going sideways here, FTS Activated"

anothertroll456 a day ago | parent [-]

Maybe it did, or is it public that it didn't? A possible sequence (very typical in rocket failures) is: fire, engine failure(s), loss of control, rupture due to aero forces or FTS activation, explosion due to propellant mixture. Not all of these have to happen, but it's a typical progression. Before the days of AFTS the FTS activation would be pretty delayed.

pixl97 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Eh I'm thinking more it was a reentry explosion from pressurized tanks. Engines had failed a while before then.

s1artibartfast a day ago | parent [-]

This is over the Bahamas. Re-entry was much further east, near Turks and Caicos Islands.

Also, if a pressurized tank is reentering, that means the FTS failed to detonate.