SpaceX Starship - Orbital Test Flight - Starbase TX

Launch Date: April 20
Launch Window: 8:28am CDT (6:28am PDT, 13:28 UTC) - 62 minute window
Launch site: LC-1? - Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas
Core Booster Recovery: Expended in Gulf
Starship Recovery: Water landing near Hawaii
Booster: Super Heavy Booster 7
Starship: Starship 24
Mass: No mass simulator mentioned
Orbit: LEO-ish
Yearly Launch Number: 26

A SpaceX Super Heavy and Starship launch vehicle will launch on its first orbital test flight. The mission will attempt to travel around the world for nearly one full orbit, resulting in a re-entry and splashdown of the Starship near Hawaii.

Webcast:

 

[ecarfan]

Continuing intense repair work at Stage Zero. In the latest NSF video, the section starting at 7:17 is particularly entertaining.

 

[dhanson865]

Gwynne Shotwell's award acceptance speech at 2023 RNASA Space Awards Gala

 

[Cosmacelf]

Gwynne Shotwell's award acceptance speech at 2023 RNASA Space Awards Gala

Is it worth listening to?

 

[dhanson865]

Is it worth listening to?

It's a video, not just audio, you get to see Gwynne with a ~6 foot tall award, much talk about the early days and her self deprecating about her age.

Someone on another thread mentioned these points but I watched it and the tone and content around these points give them context.

It was nice to hear Gwynne's honest opinions about Starship and going to mars.

Much talk on reddit about her retiring soon based on her talk of being old during this acceptance.

1. SpaceX has "nearly 13,000" employees
2. Subtle hint Starlink is doing well: "Starlink was going to help us get to Mars and there's no question that it has ... it looks like it's gonna happen that way."
3. Starship's test launch result exceeded their expectations (sans the pad damage): "It represented an extraordinary success for us. Frankly, we did not think we're going to get that far."

 

[JB47394]

Gwynne Shotwell's award acceptance speech at 2023 RNASA Space Awards Gala

That link didn't go the way you were hoping; it's just some text. Here's a Vimeo link. I get complaints when I try to include it as a video. Shotwell starts speaking at 1:27:10.

 

[dhanson865]

That link didn't go the way you were hoping; it's just some text. Here's a Vimeo link. I get complaints when I try to include it as a video. Shotwell starts speaking at 1:27:10.

Yeah TMC and Vimeo are fighting over how to handle the embed. TMC wants to get click tracking to external links and modifies any post with a URL in it. Vimeo is trying to prevent the embed.

I tried changing that post 2 or 3 times and thought I had a working URL but it apparently only worked for the first few minutes and then the battle continued with something on one end or the other changing.

 

[ecarfan]

Latest NSF video show rebar being lowered into the hole below the OLM and then concrete repeatedly being poured into the hole. SpaceX is moving at warp speed with the repairs!

 

[scaesare]

Wonder if this is Fondag again.

 

[zoomer0056]

I'm watching them repair the OLM on YT. I say to myself, just because it has rebar 3x4 squares does not mean it will stand up. On the contrary, such a dense layer of rebar is really a layer, a point of failure.

 

[JB47394]

Wonder if this is Fondag again.

Conventional concrete for the pilings. Fondag was only used as a surface layer directly under the engines. It is believed that there was originally a layer of conventional concrete below that, and then the pilings. What's different about the pilings this time is that they are getting full rebar cages, which should greatly improve their shear strength - a mode of stress that they didn't expect those pilings to have to endure.

I'm watching them repair the OLM on YT. I say to myself, just because it has rebar 3x4 squares does not mean it will stand up. On the contrary, such a dense layer of rebar is really a layer, a point of failure.

It looks extremely dense while on the jig because the shots were from the end. If you watch them lower the cage into the hole, you'll see that it's very long (higher than the launch table), and not at all dense.

 

[zoomer0056]

watch them lower the cage into the hole,

Yeah I saw that too. Very long rebar tubes. But my post was about removing the old rebar/cement. The slabs with all that rebar had the rebar survive but the cement was nowhere to be found. Or maybe jack hammering it off separated the cement from the rebar. I don't know what I'm talking about, very interesting though. And I am very impressed at the fast pace they are implementing plans that have probably been in place for awhile.

 

[JB47394]

Yeah I saw that too. Very long rebar tubes. But my post was about removing the old rebar/cement. The slabs with all that rebar had the rebar survive but the cement was nowhere to be found. Or maybe jack hammering it off separated the cement from the rebar. I don't know what I'm talking about, very interesting though. And I am very impressed at the fast pace they are implementing plans that have probably been in place for awhile.

You mean that dramatic shot of the rebar cage that extended between two legs without any concrete attached? I assume it was eroded away by all the soil being thrown out in that direction. CSI Starbase echoes your thoughts about concrete damage during the resurfacing operations, but they think it was damage to the concrete directly under the Fondag sections, allowing the thrust of the booster to drive down the concrete, introducing gaps. Then that's it for the surface.

 

[Grendal]

 

[Buckminster]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1662263704262680577

~End of July flight.

 

[ecarfan]

This was cool to see. Of course a heavy emphasis on the positive aspects of the flight while minimizing the adverse outcomes.

 

[ecarfan]

Latest RGV video shows two of the huge steel perforated plates that will be placed inside the OLM ring at the base. First time I’ve seen them. Maybe there will be 4 in total?

This is a cropped image to get a close up view but the quality is of course not so good.

 

[scaesare]

Latest RGV video shows two of the huge steel perforated plates that will be placed inside the OLM ring at the base. First time I’ve seen them. Maybe there will be 4 in total?

This is a cropped image to get a close up view but the quality is of course not so good.

View attachment 942362

Wow, that feed pipe for the water manifold is ginormous... that's gotta be 6' diameter...

 

[ecarfan]

Finally, a clear explanation of the planned Starship stage sep that I can follow. Good force vector diagrams!

 

[MyJoule]

This was cool to see. Of course a heavy emphasis on the positive aspects of the flight while minimizing the adverse outcomes.

I wonder how they are coming with the FTS modifications? I'm pretty sure it won't fly again until the FTS changes have been re-qualified.

 

[Electroman]

Finally, a clear explanation of the planned Starship stage sep that I can follow. Good force vector diagrams!

At 9:35 he says,

"the booster rotation is beneficial anyway as it has to start rotating anyway to start the belly flop maneuver to reduce speed by air friction"

Huh? How could he get confused with the belly flop maneuver of Starship and with the traditional landing of booster? Doesn't bode well on how much I should take the rest of his explanation seriously..