FAQ
- 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."
- Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
- 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.
- 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."
- 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.
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 |
Resources
- LabPadre Channel | NASASpaceFlight.com Channel
- NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
- NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
- NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
- SpaceX: Website Starship page | Starship Users Guide (2020, PDF)
- FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
- FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
- FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
- NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
- Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
- Production Progress Infographics by @RingWatchers
- Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
- Acronym definitions by Decronym
- Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
- Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase Live-
2:17am- Semi Tanker truck arrives at the pad. Backs up to right of the camera
2:50am- 2nd tanker truck arrives. Backs up to left side of pad. Red and white. I’m 90% sure they are water
3:53am- Ventilation hose gets removed from B9
3:57am- Tanker on the left side leaves
4:30am- B9’s ventilation hose is removed from the leg
4:46am- Dance floors hose is removed
5:00am- OLM’s hose is removed
5:34am- Crane lifts more high pressure tanks over at the deluge tank farm
6:11am- Forklift clearing right side of pad
7:00am- Generator is towed away
7:05am- Air conditioning unit is hauled off
8:08am- Light trailer towed away
8:27am- Starlink trailer hauled away. Pad is pretty much clear now. Just some cones around
8:31am- Crews sweeping where the equipment was parked
8:43am- Crane shows up at the pad
8:48am- Another water tanker shows up. Goes to the left of the pad. Backs up by the deluge pipe bunker. Priming the pipes?
8:50am- Lifts up at the orbital tank farm
8:59am- Crane lifts the big (argon?) tank next to the tower and moves it further back towards the old landing pad area
9:11am- Tanker truck leaves
9:24am- Lifts at the OTF are painting
9:53am- 3 pick ups still at the pad. Employees walking around the area and 1 guy with a backpack leaf blower blowing the area off.
9:56am- Crews still working between the pad and retention pond areas
10:13am- PA announcement- Overhead drone operations for the next hour
10:53am- 2 pick ups leave. At least one worker still walking around
11:00am- Pad appears clear. There are still 2 lifts on the highway 4 side of the tank farm. Will they wait for them to go down?
11:21am- People appearing out of nowhere at the pad.
11:26am- Meeting of I’d guess engineers under the pad
11:50am- People leaving pad again. Paint crew is down at the OTF. There are still a few stragglers on top of the OLM.
12:00pm- At least 3 people still on top and 1 under the OLM.
12:08pm- PA announcement- Clear the pad for deflector testing
12:33pm- Another announcement to clear the pad and alarm sounding
12:36pm- Chopsticks raising
12:52pm- Drone
1:00pm- Drone telling someone to leave
1:09:58- Deluge test
1:11pm- The tarp survived!!!!!!!!
1:23pm- Raptor install stand headed towards the build site
1:26pm- Chopsticks being lowered
2:03pm- People back at the pad
3:09pm- Forklift brings the air conditioning unit back to the base of the OLM
3:19pm- Lift goes back up to S25
3:39pm- Generator is brought back over
3:56pm- Dance floor is being lowered
4:08pm- Vent hose for the OLM Is being reinstalled
4:18pm- Another row of high pressure tanks is being lifted over at the deluge farm
4:22pm- Tarp was removed from the cryo leg
5:06pm- An air compressor comes magically flying through the air from behind the tower. (Okay, It maybe getting a little help from a crane)
5:37pm- After a quick inspection the dance floor is being lifted back up
5:46pm- Another small generator gets brought over
6:09pm- And since this is SpaceX, let’s cryo proof S28.
6:36pm- Frost on S28’s methane tank
7:00pm- S28’s lox tank looks full frosty
7:39pm- Forklift brings a light tower back (Thankfully because it was getting hard to make things out)
10:26pm- Workers are on top of the OLM and the dance floor. Some engineer types have been walking around the plate but aren’t really getting down to look at things. Forklifts have been bringing equipment back over to the right side. S28 still has some frost.
(This gets synced)