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 48 | Starship Dev 47 | Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Status

Road Closures

Type Start (UTC) End (UTC) Status
Primary 2023-08-24 13:00:00 2023-08-25 01:00:00 Cancelled
Alternative 2023-08-25 14:00:00 2023-08-26 02:00:00 Concluded
Alternative 2023-08-28 13:00:00 2023-08-27 01:00:00 Cancelled

Up to date as of 2023-09-05

Vehicle Status

As of 2023-09-22

Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Ship Location Status Comment
S20 Rocket Garden Retired
S24 Gulf of Mexico Destroyed Destroyed on during Flight Test 1
S25 Stacked on B9 Spin Prime and Static Fire
S26 Test Stand B Cryo tested
S27 Rocket Garden Scrapped Common dome imploded
S28 Engine Install Stand Raptors installed Previously tested at Masseys
S29 Masseys Awaiting testing
S30 High Bay Under construction
S31 High Bay Under construction
S32 Build Site Parts spotted
S33 Build Site Parts spotted
S34 Build Site Parts spotted

 

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 Launch mount Hot-stage ring installed Static fire (August 5th)
B10 Megabay 1 Cryo tested
B11 Megabay 1
B12 Megabay 1 Grid fins installed
B13 Megabay 1 Stacking
B14 Build Site Parts under construction
B15 Build Site Parts under construction

Resources

  • LettuceTurnipTheBeetEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase live-

    7:24am- LR11000 picks up the ring lifting jig and swings over to hot staging ring. Looks like they are done with the work on top of B9

    7:30am- Lowers the lifting jig down to the ring

    8:10am- Workers are on the SQD and on top of B9

    8:47am- Workers retract the work platform on the SQD

    9:00am- Lifts went up to the staircase and dance floor overnight. More sparks could be seen coming from the OLM ring to the right of the staircase. AWP left the pad area

    9:08am- Ring is lifted and 2 AWP’s are going up

    9:20am- Swings over to B9

    9:25am- Workers helping to line it up

    9:31am- Down on top of B9

    9:34am- Worker climbs into the HSR

    9:39am- Workers disconnecting the lifting cables

    9:47am- Lifting jig is lifted away from B9 and AWP’s go down

    10:04am- SQD work platform is swung back over to the end of the arm

    10:38am- LR11000 disconnected from the lifting jig

    12:20pm- Workers up on the SQD

    1:00pm- LR11000 moves over to the sub orbital pad area

    1:15pm- Lift has been up at the top of the staircase

    3:44pm- AWP goes up to one of the latch points between B9 and the HSR.

    4:09pm- Work platform at the end of the SQD is swung away

    4:21pm- AWP goes back down. Sensor was showing the latch didn’t work?

    4:30pm- AWP goes back up. Needed to grab something?

    4:33pm- After some quick work, they go back down again

    6:24pm- Venting at Massey’s. S29 cryo starting?

    6:47pm- LR11000 is lowering the squid to the top of S26 and an AWP is going up to hook it up

    7:04pm- Klaxon and announcement. I can make out personal and orbital pad.

    7:17pm- Frost on S29

    7:41pm- Lox tank is full frosty on S29

    8:12pm- Full frosty

    9:10pm- Lift has been up at the right chopstick

    9:27pm- AWP goes back up to the top of B9. Other side of booster compared to earlier

    9:55pm- AWP comes back down. No view of what they were doing on SBL or Rover 2

    10:30pm- Frost is receding on S29. Lift up to the dance floor

    (This gets synced)