Originally Posted by
lomapaseo
I don't get why the fixation on the legs. It seems obvious from the views that the fuel leak and fire existed before landing and that it sat percolating until it blew.
Our local news played it as a rounding success as it sat there with fire licking up its side as if it was meant to land that way.
I did wonder how they would go bout fighting such a fire on-the-ground but I had visions that they might be busy calculating how much time they had left before the fuel was exhausted and it cooled down .... good move.
I've been in situations where it seemed a good idea to go out for a beer and come back hours later to see if the building was still standing
That wasn't a 'fuel leak' it was venting methane burning off from the just-shutdown Raptor.
It was normal...
The lack of at least two legs caused the leaks once the engine bay had been disrupted on shutdown...