A video of Elon Musk playing Diablo IV carried an unexpected soundtrack: an unidentified SpaceX engineer discussing risks during Starship’s Flight 5 booster landing sequence. TechCrunch reported that the engineer said a component issue brought the vehicle close to an abort, and that a cover came off above critical valves. Those details are reported speech from the clip—not findings independently confirmed in SpaceX’s public flight update.
What the background audio reportedly revealed
In its October 25, 2024 report, TechCrunch said the clip showed Musk playing Diablo IV while an unidentified SpaceX engineer briefed him about a recent Starship test. Reuters reporter Joey Roulette flagged the clip, according to TechCrunch. The report did not establish whether the briefing took place on the day the video was posted.
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The engineer described a component that was misconfigured and did not have the proper ramp-up time to bring up spin pressure. TechCrunch quoted the engineer saying: “We were one second away from that tripping and telling the rocket to abort and try to crash into the ground next to the tower.” The same speaker reportedly added, “I want to be really upfront about scary shit that happened.”
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches“One second away” is the engineer’s reported description, not a published probability, a verified countdown, or a quantified risk estimate. The speaker is not named, and the public account does not provide enough detail to independently establish the component’s behavior.
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The cover and the landing-burn valves
TechCrunch also reported that the engineer described a cover ripping off during Super Heavy’s descent. The cover was over valves the engineer characterized as single-point failures during the landing burn. According to the report, the valves were not damaged and a plan existed to address the cover issue. The public SpaceX update does not independently confirm this briefing detail.
What the clip does—and does not—show about Musk
TechCrunch reported brief reactions from Musk, including “Wow,” “Yikes,” and later “Ok.” Those reactions alone do not establish whether he was distracted, how closely he followed the briefing, or what he understood from it. The report also quotes a second, unnamed engineer discussing the trade-off between speed and risk mitigation before the next flight.
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Which Starship flight was being discussed?
The briefing concerned Starship’s fifth integrated flight test, flown on October 13, 2024. SpaceX’s Flight 5 update described the goal of returning the Super Heavy booster to the launch site and catching it with the tower; SpaceX reported that the catch succeeded.
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That successful public result and the engineer’s reported account are separate pieces of information. SpaceX’s update documents the mission objective and outcome; it does not confirm the near-abort description or the cover incident. The clip offers an account of risks encountered around a flight that ultimately completed its planned booster catch, not evidence that the landing sequence was risk-free.
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What the FAA record establishes
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Starship project archive says SpaceX applied to modify its vehicle operator license for the Flight 5 mission profile at Boca Chica, Texas. The FAA signed its written re-evaluation on October 12, 2024, one day before the test flight. This is regulatory context for Flight 5; it does not verify what the engineers said in the video.
Flight 5 and the clip are historical. SpaceX’s updates page includes later flight material, so Flight 5 should not be described as a current or upcoming test.
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