FAQ
- 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.”
- Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
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 |
Resources
- LabPadre Channel | NASASpaceFlight.com Channel
- NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
- NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
- NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
- SpaceX: Website Starship page | Starship Users Guide (2020, PDF)
- FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
- FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
- FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
- NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
- Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
- Production Progress Infographics by @RingWatchers
- Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
- Acronym definitions by Decronym
- Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
- Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase live-
11:15pm- Lift moves in to where crane was parked
1:55am- 3rd piece of shielding goes up to the draw works shed
3:06am- Pump truck folds up and leaves
6:39am- Vent hose being installed in the new door on the OLM
7:29am- Pump truck going up to the left of the OLM. Extends over to the new engine chill dump pit
7:51am- Second vent hose being installed
8:51am- Tower cladding piece lifted
9:15am- Second cladding piece lifted (They look like old pieces that they may have fixed)
10:06am- Crane is back in its position in front of the OLM
10:14am- 3rd cladding piece lifted
10:20am- Grover is leaving the launch site
10:37am- Basket goes into the middle of the OLM
10:47am- Pump truck folds up
10:58am- Lifts back up at the methane tank on S25 (I wonder what they are doing in there)
11:11am- An overflowing basket is removed
11:14am- Rebar brought in by a forklift on the left side of the OLM
11:32am- Crane leaves again
11:33am- Pick up backs in and removed the trailer holding the plastic tank
11:55am- WATER!!! (Low pressure test of the deluge)
1:16pm- Bunch of water over the side
1:22pm- Thar she blows
1:35pm- How hot is it in Boca Chica? Concrete is already dry again.
1:50pm- Workers start returning
2:12pm- Large group returns. They spread out and start inspecting. No one seems concerned.
(Thank you kind redditor for the gold)
2:18pm- Yellow tape strung around the outside of the OLM. People still walking around on the plate
2:43pm- Forklift brings in a caterpillar air compressor
2:51pm- A lot more people on top of the OLM than normal
3:20pm- Workers back up at the stabilizer arm on the right chopstick
3:31pm- Wood forms coming in for the pad over the deluge pipes
3:35pm- Workers on the tower at the chopsticks
3:41pm- Forklift brings in what looks like a metal strip to the center of the OLM
3:47pm- Group of VIPs arrive at the OLM
3:56pm- VIP’s leave after standing and looking up at the OLM
4:19pm- Forklift brings in another piece of metal to the left side of the OLM
4:27pm- Using a good old shop vac to clean up some of the water under the area where the forklift is waiting to put down the new piece of metal. Which begs the question, Was the missing top strip of that manifold not completely welded shut and that’s why it threw water so much further than the other parts of the plate? Or was that because it has its own dedicated water supply line and the other 2 share?
5:36pm- Forklift takes another piece of metal under the right side of the OLM
6:48pm- Forklift brings another piece of metal to under the left side of OLM
8:05pm- Crane lifts piece of pipe off of the top of the OLM. (The crane came in, extended, lifted that piece off, went down, and left again)
9:45pm- We’ve gone from watching hundreds of loads of rebar being lifted into the pit, to hundreds of loads of concrete, to 4 guys with a shop vac and a welder.
(This gets synced)