# The Great Ongoing Space Exploration Thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Tags:** science-math\
**Created:** [November 16, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703 "2020-11-16T12:18:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1852

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/1852 "2025-01-17T04:17:37Z")

</div>

There’s a bit more conversation happening in the dedicated Starship thread, BTW:  
[https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year)

Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) is a fun phrase, but it’s been in use for a while now. Aerospace engineers love these sorts of euphemisms, such as lithobraking (slamming into the Earth) and engine-rich exhaust (exhaust can be fuel rich or oxygen rich, but engine-rich means that the engine itself is burning).

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703)._