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

  • @LettuceTurnipTheBeet@lemm.eeEnglish
    5•11 months ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase Live-

    1:12am- S25 starts rolling

    1:20am- Turns on to Hwy 4

    2:08am- Turns on to to Remidos

    2:19am- Arrives at the rocket garden

    7:32am- Sheriff at road block

    7:52am- FireX test

    8:07:20- Deluge test/system prime

    8:09am- Pope stack starts venting

    8:15:33- Igniter test

    8:29am- Grid fin tests

    8:50am- NSF going live

    9:42am- Booster venting it’s ambient pressure

    10:35am- Sub coolers are off. Working a problem in the OTF?

    10:39am- Workers head to pad/ Roadblock still in place

    10:42am- Ship puck shucker headed back to Masseys

    11:00am- Workers at the generator by the Lox sub coolers

    11:04am- Pope stack firing back up

    11:32am- Workers starting to leave pad

    11:35am- All 3 vehicles leave. Pad clear again

    11:44am- Lox subcoolers going again

    12:15pm- OLM vent

    12:53pm- Frost forming on the methane sub coolers

    1:01pm- Waterfall mode on the OLM vent. We’re getting close to fueling

    1:03pm- OLM vent stopped. Prop load should be underway. Around 90 minutes to test possibly

    1:06pm- Engine chill underway

    1:08pm- New engine cavity purge vents going

    1:09pm- Frost forming quickly

    1:10pm- Lox chill pit active

    1:18pm- Methane frost line forming

    2:02pm- Drone

    2:05pm- OLM vent. Loading complete

    2:08pm- FireX / Deluge / Fire (Lots of steam)

    2:10:30- Deluge stops

    2:12pm- Depress vent

    2:41pm- Pad looks good but they are going to need some new fencing

    3:17pm- Engine compartment and Deluge plate purge

    3:47pm- Another purge from the new engine compartment vents

    3:53pm- Big depress vent (That should be it)

    4:55pm- OLM vent

    5:00pm- Road open

    6:16pm- OLM vent finally ends

    7:59pm- 3 SPMT’s headed to launch site with counterweights and connectors. B9 coming back?

    8:04:32pm- SPMT down! Looked like a hydraulic failure? Front went up, back all the way down and to the left where the weight was. They got it leveled back out and going pretty quick though.

    9:22pm- Workers return to pad

    9:28pm- 3 workers kneel down to look at one spot on the plate

    9:48pm- After checking the rest of the pad, they came back for a second look at the one spot

    10:15pm- Workers headed up the stairs to check the inside of the OLM

    10:21pm- Exit the OLM and drive away

    10:52pm- Lift goes back up at OLM (New door)

    (This gets synced)