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
    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.

  • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Static fire!

    Announcements on the webcast:

    • Test duration 2.74 seconds, with 4 engines shutting down prematurely.
    • Vehicle and pad look good. Preparing for propellant offload.
    • xvlc@feddit.deEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      If I remember correctly, they can launch with up to three engines missing. I guess the early shutdown of the fourth engine after ~2.74s triggered an abort of the static fire, which was supposed to last for 5 seconds?

    • LettuceTurnipTheBeet@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Plate seems to have survived this very well. Didn’t see any bits flying up either, and white cloud seems good, so very positive overall.

      But 4 engines shut off and I think John mentioned they were aiming for 5 seconds, so I bet they’ll go for another run in the next few days.

  • LettuceTurnipTheBeet@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

    Starbase Live-

    11:05pm- Equipment starting to be brought back in

    2:50am- B9’s transport stand is rolled up next to the OLM

    9:30am- Lifts have been up and down all around the OLM as well as workers on top. Workers are also on top of the booster transport stand.

    10:00am- 4 lifts up at the can crusher at Massey’s. Did they do a test and are inspecting now?

    11:08am- Chopsticks closing

    11:16am- Chopsticks lowering around B9

    11:29am- Chopsticks close in on B9

    12:54pm- Stabilizer arms going in

    1:07pm- B9 lifted up off the OLM

    1:11pm- Chopsticks translate over

    1:20pm- Lowering towards stand

    1:22pm- Holding above the stand

    1:33pm- One of the stabilizers on the stand goes up

    1:38pm- Second stabilizer goes up

    3:16pm- Lowered the rest of the way onto the stand

    4:35pm- Workers on top of the transport stand. Looks like they are checking the hold down clamps.

    5:23pm- Workers on the stand appear to be done

    7:45pm- Lifts have been up at the can crusher most of the day. They have cleared out now though and it looks like there may be tension on the cables (or might just be because the lighting has changed)

    8:46pm- Chopsticks release B9, open and lower some

    9:40pm- B9 rollling

    9:44pm- Booster stopped after clearing the chopsticks which then fully closed. Light truck turned off

    10:08pm- Workers going up to the OLM

    10:17pm- Rolling again

    10:30pm- Turns on to Hwy 4

    11:30pm- Turns into production site

    11:35pm- Stops outside of the high bay

    11:41pm- Rolls over to in front of the Mega bay

    (This gets synced)

  • LettuceTurnipTheBeet@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    1 year 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)