Landing burn shutdown! Chopsticks have caught the booster!

Holy fuck they did it

It's launch day!

Currently T-5.5 hours, and NSF are live with pre-launch coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVUji1BLLjw

Chopsticks have opened wide.

Tank farm is spooling up.

Freakin' phenomenal execution for this flight! Booster and Starship both performed exactly as designed! Successful catch for Super Heavy, and on target landing for Starship! Footage from SPI is also amazing to see!

Edit: Bonus footage from SpaceX!

LET'S GOOO

I was ready to wait until Christmas for this and now I'm not emotionally prepared!

If there's a catch attempt I'm expecting a mild success where something goes wrong (those arms sway sooo much), but I'm optimistic about Ship reentry. Going to be great.

One of my favourite videos of the catch, because of what happens when the sonic booms arrive!: https://youtu.be/749dRxbSkVU (They're at 6:51.) Also it's a different angle from most of the others, because it's from Mexico.

And a playlist: Starship IFT5 booster catch, original footage only

Hype! Let's catch this guy.

Landing burn!

Landing burn!

Splashdown confirmed! Live video from a nearby buoy!

MECO, hot staging, boostback burn startup.

Ship engine cutoff. Nominal orbit insertion.

Flight director is go for launch.

Mission control callout: Starship has passed through peak heating, approaching Max-Q.

Ship velocity seems to have peaked around 26756 km/h, starting to slow down now.

SpaceX hosted webcast is live. Kate Tice and Jessie Anderson are hosting.

Edit: Raptor engine chill.

Looks like they're now targeting the end of the window: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845424870655398102

The Starship team is go for prop load, and weather is looking ideal for today's flight test!

The launch webcast will go live ~35 minutes ahead of liftoff which is currently targeted for 7:25am CT

Starship is transsonic.

Edit: Ship now subsonic.

Mission control callout: "Starship has entered the atmosphere, remains on a nominal entry trajectory."

Booster and ship propellant load is complete. Range is clear.

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845428939285544966

Propellant load of Starship’s upper stage is now underway

Boostback burn shutdown, tower is go for catch!

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845431347432579438

Prop load of the Super Heavy booster is underway

Mission control callout: Starship has entered peak heating phase.

Edit: Halfway through peak heating phase. Landing engine chill has begun.

Jettisoned hot stage ring visible in the ground tracking shot!

Hosted webcast is back for coverage of ship reentry.

Liftoff!

Mission control callout: "Starship is in a good attitude for entry, approaching the entry interface."

Booster depress vents visible.