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
    3·
    1 year ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase live-

    10:52pm- More rebar to the pit

    1:46am- Something was tested on the OLM

    2:34am- Yep more rebar. (Pretty quiet night except for work in the pit)

    3:08am- More rebar into the pit. Long reach excavator appears done with the concrete

    4:17am- Forklift brings a generator over to the pit area

    4:19- B9 rolls down Remidos to Hwy 4

    4:55am- Rebar work continues around the deluge pipe pit in the cryo leg area

    6:14am- Forklift brings in a new light tower and blinds view under the OLM

    6:29am- B9 starts rolling

    7:29am- B9 turns into the launch site

    7:42am- A giant rocket rolling in isn’t going to stop the rebar work

    7:45am- B9 arrives at the pad

    7:54am- Chopsticks start rising

    7:59am- Chopsticks open

    8:12am- Booster moves closer to lift area

    8:24am- Chopsticks lower into lift position

    8:31am- More rebar lifted over

    8:50am- B9 moves in between chopsticks

    9:06am- Basket lifted up to the top of the OLM

    9:30am- Basket lowered

    9:36am- Square Piece of equipment lifted off the top

    9:41am- Piece of equipment lifted out of the pit

    9:45am- More rebar lifted over

    10:18am- More rebar. They’re really pushing on it today

    10:29am- Yep another batch of rebar. The next concrete pour has to be coming soon

    10:56am- Crane moves to right side of the OLM and lifts a rebar cage structure. Moves it over by the new stairs. I’d assume just staging for later. Then crane moves back to left side.

    11:21am- Rebar

    11:23am- PA announcement- Overhead drone work

    12:05pm- Workers up at the base of B9

    12:15pm- Pad clearing

    12:23pm- Chopsticks closing around B9

    12:28pm- Closing in tighter to latch on

    12:33pm- Starting to raise up to the pins

    12:54pm- Sounds like the drone that warned Jack the other day is out warning people again today

    1:03pm- Ship 28 moves to the entrance of the high bay

    1:37pm- Clamps on the stand retracting from booster

    2:02pm- LR11000 lowering at the build site. Most likely being reconfigured to finish building the new mega bay

    2:06pm- One of the tall aerial work platforms arrives at the launch site

    2:10pm- Workers climbing on to the stand

    2:18pm- (14:18) Rover 2- Sounds like somebody’s radio by the camera. Lift will be attempted again in 2 hours.

    2:20pm- Looks like some of the clamps are stuck?

    2:23pm- Aerial work platform goes up to the top of the booster

    2:30pm- Workers climbing on top of B9

    2:46pm- When you got some unexpected free time, you grab a broom and try to get rid of some of that dust

    3:00pm- Aerial work platform comes down

    3:27pm- Workers back on top of the OLM

    3:58pm- Workers climbing off B9’s stand. Finally unstuck?

    4:02pm- Ship 28 lifted in the high bay

    4:08pm- Pad clearing again. Looks like 5 people still working on the booster

    5:30pm- Stabilizer arms going in

    5:48pm- One guy still walking around on the stand

    6:31pm- People are back on top of the OLM. Not looking good for the lift. The stand appears to be afraid to let B9 go after seeing what happened to B7.

    8:10pm- It moved!!!

    8:11pm- S28 unhooked from the bridge crane

    8:17pm- Clamps releasing

    8:27pm- Clears the stand

    8:34pm- Stabilizer arms going in once again

    8:37pm- Drone up

    8:54pm- Guide pins retract back into the stand

    8:55pm- Up we go at a good pace and then it paused

    9:00pm- That SpaceX drone has quite the spotlight

    9:04pm- Booster is rotating

    9:06pm- Going up again

    9:09pm- Clears the OLM. Pauses. Drone checking underside of the booster

    9:11pm- Starts rotating over the pad

    9:18pm- Starting to lower

    9:27pm- Engines starts going below the lip of the OLM

    9:32pm- Drone checking out one of the skates on the right side of the chopsticks

    9:45pm- Engines below the lip of the OLM. Making final adjustments

    Rover 1-

    16:47- New puck shucker is rolled in under Ship 28

    17:05- S28 touches down on stand

    (This gets synced)