/sci/ - Science & Math

I know that some rockets were able to change engines in the middle of development. But have there been any rockets in history that changed staging on a whim like Starship? And the FAA report states the hot staging ring weighs 9 fucking tons, which means they must be getting a lot of benefit from staging that way. Another interesting detail in report is that they may jettison the ring in certain launch scenarios. Doesn't seem exactly "fully and rapidly reusable" to me so I'd guess hot staging is a temporary measure.