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
    4·
    1 year ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase Live-

    12:05am- B9 rolls into the mega bay

    3:10am- Vent hose to the OLM reinstalled. Air handling unit was brought back in during B9’s move

    7:12am- Generator for the air handling unit brought back in

    9:00am- Lifts go up, lifts go down. Not a lot of activity at the pad. So I think that’s a good sign that the pad fared well during the static fire.

    10:59am- Semi delivers the load spreader used to lift the deluge tanks. The 3rd tank must be getting close. Work at the OLM seems to be centered around the BQD this morning. There’s also been 4 water trucks.

    11:08am- Here comes the scaffolding on top of the OLM

    1:10pm- Looks like another Lox pump is getting installed

    2:00pm- Only 3 sections of scaffolding with guard rails going up to the right of the BQD. Another water truck arrived. It looks like they may be pumping out the deluge pond.

    2:26pm- Worker climbs up into the BQD housing

    2:40pm- More scaffolding pieces being unloaded from a lift. Ugh. The top of the OLM was looking so clean.

    3:00pm- LR11000 has moved over to the old Landing Pad area. Another indication that the deluge tank should be arriving soon

    3:49pm- Workers up at the SQD

    7:01pm- Lift up inspecting the new stairs.

    9:18pm- Crane returns to the launch site and extends

    9:32pm- Workers grinding on the top of the shielding on the new staircase

    (This gets synced)

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Thanks for setting up this bot! It’s working great!

      Just a heads up that both r/SpaceX and c/SpaceX have switched to Starship Dev thread 48, so you’ll need to update the bot.