SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

  1. When (first) orbital flight? First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. “The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship.”
  2. Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
  3. What’s happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/“shower head” system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
  4. When is the next flight test? Just after flight, Elon stated they “Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.” On April 29, he reiterated this estimate in a Twitter Spaces Q&A (summarized here), saying “I’m glad to report that the pad damage is actually quite small,” should “be repaired quickly,” and “From a pad standpoint, we are probably ready to launch in 6 to 8 weeks.” Requalifying the flight termination system (FTS) and the FAA post-incident review will likely require the longest time to complete. Musk reiterated the timeline on May 26, stating “Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship.”
  5. Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM? Musk tweeted on April 21: “3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch.” Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.

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Quick Links

RAPTOR ROOST | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE

Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45 | Starship Dev 44 | Starship Dev 43

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Status

Road Closures

Type Start (UTC) End (UTC) Status
Primary 2023-08-04 13:00:00 2023-08-05 01:00:00 Possible
Alternative 2023-08-06 13:00:00 2023-08-07 01:00:00 Possible
Alternative 2023-08-07 13:00:00 2023-08-08 01:00:00 Possible

Up to date as of 2023-08-04

Vehicle Status

As of July 28th 2023

Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Ship Location Status Comment
S15 Rocket Garden Scrapped
S20 Rocket Garden Retired
S24 Gulf of Mexico Destroyed Destroyed on during Flight Test 1
S25 Launch Site Testing Spin Prime and Static Fire
S26 Rocket Garden Resting No fins or heat shield, plus other changes.
S27 Rocket Garden Scrapped Common dome imploded
S28 Rocket Garden Pending Raptor install Previously tested at Masseys
S29 High Bay 1 Under construction
S30 Build Site Under construction
S31 Build Site Parts under construction Assorted parts spotted through S34.

 

Booster Location Status Comment
Pre-B7 & B8 Scrapped or Retired B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped.
B7 Gulf of Mexico Destroyed Destroyed April 20th in Flight Test 1
B9 Mega bay Pending raptor swap and hot-stage ring install Static fire (August 5th)
B10 Masseys Testing Cryo testing
B11 Rocket Garden Resting
B12 Megabay Raceways installed
B13 Build Site Parts under construction
B14 Build Site Parts under construction
B15 Build Site Parts under construction

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Resources

  • LettuceTurnipTheBeetEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase live-

    12:48am- Concrete pump truck goes up to right of OLM. Looks like they may be finally pouring that little pad off to the side

    4:14am- Basket comes down

    4:37am- Crane lowers and leaves from in front of OLM

    4:45am- Forklift brings in some kind of united rentals equipment

    4:55am- Pick up backs in a giant generator in front of OLM

    5:06am- Forklift brings in another united rentals piece of equipment

    5:15am- Crane comes back. Looks it just left to make room for the deliveries

    7:50am- SPMT headed to the launch site

    7:58am- 3rd segment of the 4th floor of the new mega bay lifted

    8:20am- Pump truck folding up, concrete truck is backed up to the OLM though so pour continues, Grover removing it’s counterweights (so that’s what the SPMT was for)

    8:56am- New crossbeam test fitted at the draw works shed

    8:58am- Concrete truck is gone, looks like the pour is over

    9:03am- Crossbeam installed

    9:11am- Pump truck goes up around the deluge tank farm (can be seen much clearer on Rover 2)

    9:24am- More concrete trucks arriving, go to the pump truck

    10:13am- Equipment lifted off of the OLM

    10:19am- New upper crossbeam installed on the draw works shed

    10:27am- Another pump truck goes up between the OLM and OLT

    11:00am- Lifts are up at the oxygen and methane tank access hatches of S25

    11:51am- Pump truck between OLM and OLT folds up

    1:46pm- Crane lifts triangular object to top of OLM

    1:54pm- Crane lifts section of pipe to top of OLM

    2:04pm- Pump truck at the backside of the OLT goes down

    2:30pm- Pad seems to be clearing

    2:41pm- BQD hood opens (We are 40 minutes into the intermittent closure)

    2:48pm- BQD hood closes

    2:54pm- BQD hood opens again

    3:01pm- BQD hood closes (Did they clear the OLM area just for hood tests?)

    3:37pm- Quick check of Rover 1 shows test tank 24.2 sitting quietly with no SPMT’s in sight. Doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere during this closure

    4:13pm- Tweet from Jack- Just got shooed out of the dunes by a drone with a speaker on it because im “in the blast danger area for today’s test”. That’s a first. 🤔 @NASASpaceflight

    4:18pm- Still 2 lifts up at S25’s methane tank. Waiting on them to get done?

    4:51pm- Drone

    5:03pm- Last lift at S25 is going down

    5:21pm- Purge of the new water line at the OTF?

    6:20pm- Venting sounds but lifts are back up at S25

    8:01pm- People back at the OLM and lift at the stabilizer arm on the right chopstick

    (This gets synced)