When is the Starship orbital launch?

[Tyeeking]

That’s a lot of flame!

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

March 11th? (from a personal standpoint, I hope they don't launch before the 13th as I will be out of town!)

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

This reminds me of our launch pads. The exhaust tends to char and oxygenate the leads, especially in humid environments. Maybe we should start using ablative shielding?

 

[Funkworks]

Going through EV news this morning, I found this:

"... SpaceX targets to launch Starship no earlier than (NET) Monday, April 10, launch window that begins at 8:10 a.m. Central Time, with back-up launch opportunities also scheduled for April 11 and April 12."

"SpaceX plans to fly Starship from Texas to Hawaii during its debut orbital flight test."

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/wenorbit

 

[Peartree]

Going through EV news this morning, I found this:

"... SpaceX targets to launch Starship no earlier than (NET) Monday, April 10, launch window that begins at 8:10 a.m. Central Time, with back-up launch opportunities also scheduled for April 11 and April 12."

"SpaceX plans to fly Starship from Texas to Hawaii during its debut orbital flight test."

https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/wenorbit

Worth noting that Starship's plan to fly from Texas to Hawaii is eastward and not westward (as I understand it). So, at splashdown, they will have *almost* completed one orbit.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Worth noting that Starship's plan to fly from Texas to Hawaii is eastward and not westward (as I understand it). So, at splashdown, they will have *almost* completed one orbit.

Right. And this is not a landing or controlled splashdown as we usually think of it. It’s going to “land” in the ocean (if it makes it that far). I don’t know if SpaceX plans to try to recover it, or if it’s just going to sink. The booster is also not going to land on land. It’s going to “land” in the Gulf.

It should be quite a show! Unfortunately, I’m traveling on those dates and might not get to watch it live.

 

[OverTheTop]

Both Starship and booster will perform soft landings on the water to prove their control systems in a low-risk manner. It would surprise me if they didn't recover them and autopsy everything, just in case there are any surprises with the hardware.

 

[Funkworks]

Updade: the launch is rather expected "... the third week of April":

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

Updade: the launch is rather expected "... the third week of April":

Yes, I was reading this morning that the April 10th date is for non-flight testing. There was also a hint of trying to catch environmentalists flat footed so the actual launch date has been deliberately kept discreet. They are threatening lawsuits and stop orders. The guess is that as soon as they get regulatory approval, they will load and launch withing hours.

 

[BEC]

I follow exactly one Twitter account - that of SpaceX. The latest tweet from SpaceX (about an hour ago) says “Starship is fully stacked at Starbase. Team is working towards a launch rehearsal next week followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later pending regulatory approval.” Pics of the full stack are included.

Let’s see if this embed works…

"”

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

We're planning to go out there on a boat and wave giant Biden flags like they do in Florida except with Trump flags.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

We're planning to go out there on a boat and wave giant Biden flags like they do in Florida except with Trump flags.

Just don't let it land on ya!

 

[Funkworks]

Let’s try this again.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

That'd be an interesting scale model to attempt... lots of lexan at the bottom, I suspect!

 

[BEC]

If one believes the launch schedule on Spaceflightnow.com, and if the Starship goes on the 17th, SpaceX has three launches in three days including both Starship and Falcon Heavy, one from each of three of its four launch sites (LC-39A and 40 in Florida, Starbase in Texas). Wow! And that is after Transporter 7 out of Vandeburg tomorrow night.

Of course that's not likely to actually happen, but still .... wow!

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

That's a lot of Falcon Heavy launches. I count six.

 

[Huxter]

April 17? Did the FAA give their blessing? I'll believe the date when the FAA gets their butt in gear!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

April 17? Did the FAA give their blessing? I'll believe the date when the FAA gets their butt in gear!

How does one know if they have? (Asking for a friend... aw what the heck, yes, I don't have a clue!)

 

[Huxter]

I'm sure it'll be a very public announcement!

 

[aerostadt]

I just found this news on Space Flight Now:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/04/...d-the-world-test-flight-as-soon-as-next-week/

 

[kuririn]

Live stream of the launch attempt starts in 13 hours.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mis...Av6VqYNIlVZYbxb0FQuAh-crHIyhpbwFT6KhLHONoq0jU

 

[Lord Rory Gin]

Live stream of the launch attempt starts in 13 hours.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mis...Av6VqYNIlVZYbxb0FQuAh-crHIyhpbwFT6KhLHONoq0jU

Is that a wet dress rehearsal or an actual flight attempt? I guess we have to stay tuned to find out for sure?

 

[neil_w]

Is that a wet dress rehearsal or an actual flight attempt? I guess we have to stay tuned to find out for sure?

Flight attempt. This is the real deal. Fingers crossed.

 

[cerving]

I wonder what the minimum safe distance from this thing is... 5 miles, maybe?

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I’m really looking forward to this. It looks like the SpaceX livestream starts around 5:15 am Pacific. I’m not getting up that early. I should probably be good starting within 2 hours of the beginning of the stream, right? If I’m watching by 7 am, that should be early enough, correct?

EDIT: Ugh. Looks like I’m probably wrong about that. The 150-minute window is between 5 am and 7:30 am PDT. Boo. I’m tired. I don’t want to get up that early!

 

[Funkworks]

I wonder what the minimum safe distance from this thing is... 5 miles, maybe?

It says 4 miles in here:

https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/04/15/faa-clears-spacex-to-launch-worlds-largest-rocket/

 

[Hobie1dog]

25 minutes to go

 

[David Schwantz]

Does it have a Quark onboard

 

[Marc_G]

I have the live view SpaceX feed up. Any secondary feeds with commentary to recommend?

I added Everyday Astronaut:

 

[georgegassaway]

NASA SpaceFlight:




Everyday Astronaut: