SpaceX Starship page

Portions of this thread copied from a Starship Dev thread on r/SpaceX.

FAQ

1. When next launch? (IFT-5) Booster catch is now NET late November, per SpaceX.
2. When previous launch? (IFT-4)? Booster 11 and Ship 29 launched on 2024-06-06.
3. What was the result? Both booster and ship make it to landing burn and splashdown. Ship flaps took a beating on reentry, but remained in control of the vehicle.

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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 56 | IFT-4 launch thread | Starship Dev 55 | IFT-3 launch thread | Starship Dev 54 | Starship Dev 53 | Starship Dev 52

Official SpaceX Starship Update Video (2024-04-06)

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Status

Road Closures - @bocaroad Mastodon bot

|Type | Start (CDT) | End (CDT) | Status| |---|---|----|----| | Primary Date | 2024-07-09 08:00 | 2024-07-09 20:00 | Possible Closure. | Backup Date | 2024-07-10 08:00 | 2024-07-10 20:00 | Possible Closure. | Backup Date | 2024-07-11 08:00 | 2024-07-11 20:00 | Possible Closure. | Backup Date | 2024-07-10 12:00 | 2024-07-11 00:00 | "Clossure" Scheduled. | Backup Date | 2024-07-11 12:00 | 2024-07-12 00:00 | Possible "Clossure". | Primary Date | 2024-07-12 08:00 | 2024-07-12 20:00 | Possible "Clossure".

Up to date as of 2024-07-11

Vehicle Status

As of 2024-08-23

Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Ship | Location | Status | Comment ---|---|----|---- S20 | Rocket Garden | Pending scrapping? | S26 | Rocket Garden | Pending scrapping? | Static fire Oct. 20. No fins or heat shield, multiple mysterious changes. Completed 3 cryo tests, latest on Oct 10. Rolls to Massey's May 8th, cryo test May 24th, static fired Jun 3rd, rolls to rocket garden Jun 12th. Moves to Megabay 2 Aug 13th, raptors removed Aug 14th. S30 | Rocket Garden | Static fired Jul 26th | 2x cryo: Jan 3rd and Jan 5th. Engines installed ~Apr 9th. Static fired May 8th. Heatshield replacement completed by Jul 20. Static fired Jul 26th. Raptor replacement Aug 3rd. Spin prime Aug 6th. S31 | Massey's | Pending static fire | Cryo tested May 12th, suffers small electrical fire. Underwent repairs in the Highbay, rolls back to Massey's Jul 1. Cryo tested Jul 2nd and 3rd. Engines installed by Jul 26th. Rolls to Massey's Sep 6th. Partial (aborted) cryo test Sep 8th. S32 | Rocket Garden | Resting | Fully stacked, fore flaps installed but not aft flaps S33 | Megabay 2 | Pending flaps install | First V2 Starship. Nosecone spotted Jul 14th. Forward section spotted Jul 27th. Stacking completed Aug 23. S34 | Build site | Parts spotted | Methane header tank spotted Aug 14th.

Booster | Location | Status | Comment ---|---|----|---- B12 | Megabay 1 | Pending hot stage ring install | Cryo x2, Static fire Jul 15th B13 | Megabay 1 | Testing | Cryo tests Apr 26th (methane tank) and Apr 29th (LOX tank) B14 | Megabay 1 | Pending cryo | Stacked Apr 26th B14.1 | Sanchez | Resting | Multiple catch simulation "slap tests" performed on Jun 26th and 27th. B15 | Build Site | Assembly | Potential aft end, common dome section, aft tank section, and forward dome spotted. B16 | Build Site | Assembly | Parts spotted B17 | Build Site | Assembly | Parts spotted

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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
• Everyday Astronaut 2024 Elon Musk Interviews: Starfactory tour | Pad tour and post-IFT-4 interview

> The FAA announced Sept. 17 that it notified SpaceX of $633,009 in proposed fines for violating terms of its launch licenses during the June 2023 Falcon 9 launch of the Satria-1, or PSN Satria, broadband satellite and the July 2023 Falcon Heavy launch of Jupiter-3, or EchoStar-24, broadband satellite. Both launches were successful. > > For the Satria-1 launch, the FAA said in its enforcement notice to the company that SpaceX had requested in May 2023 changes to its communications plan to allow the use of a new launch control center at the company’s “Hangar X” facility at the Kennedy Space Center and to skip a poll of launch controllers at two hours before liftoff. > > The FAA notified SpaceX shortly before the scheduled launch that it would not be able to approve those changes and modify the license in time, although the enforcement notice did not state why. SpaceX went ahead and used the Hangar X control center and skipped the “T-2 hours” poll for the launch.

> A month later, SpaceX conducted the Falcon Heavy launch of Jupiter-3, but nine days before the launch the company requested a modification to its launch license to allow it to use a new tank farm for RP-1 fuel at KSC’s Launch Complex 39A, according to a separate enforcement notice. > > The FAA notified SpaceX two days before the scheduled launch that the agency would not be able to modify the license in time, but SpaceX nonetheless used the new tank farm for the launch. The agency said it proposed to fine SpaceX the maximum $283,009 for that violation.

Starlink Group 9-17 launch out of SLC-4E in California currently scheduled for 2024-09-19 14:12 UTC, or 2024-09-19 07:12 local time (PDT). Booster [unknown] to land on Of Course I Still Love You.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJrDoL5OA78
• Spaceflight Now:
• NASASpaceflight:
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAjk68Z7HE
• SpaceX:
• The Space Devs:

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-17, 22:50 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-17, 18:50 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA | | Booster | B1067-22 | | Landing | Just Read the Instructions | | Payload | Galileo FOC FM26 & FM32 | | Customer | ESA/EUSPA | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to MEO |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_SNrBKOng | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPLDpwpXy5M | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TBeAMl-aEc | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rqB8fFOOM | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1836173431122907318 | The Space Devs |

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 21st consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 44th launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 5 days, 13:58:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 38 day turnaround for B1067

☑️ 92nd landing on JRTI

☑️ 350th Falcon Family Booster landing, 361st Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 90th Falcon 9 mission this year, 376th Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 91st SpaceX mission of 2024, 391st mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 93rd SpaceX launch this year, 404th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight mission page

>Galileo is a global navigation satellite system that went live in 2016, created by the European Union through the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European GNSS Agency (GSA). The €10 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an independent high-precision positioning system so European nations do not have to rely on the US GPS, or the Russian GLONASS systems, which could be disabled or degraded by their operators at any time. > >The use of basic (lower-precision) Galileo services is free and open to everyone. The higher-precision capabilities are available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical position measurements within 1-metre precision, and better positioning services at higher latitudes than other positioning systems. Galileo is also to provide a new global search and rescue (SAR) function as part of the MEOSAR system. > >The first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A, was launched on 28 December 2005, while the first satellite to be part of the operational system was launched on 21 October 2011. By July 2018, 26 of the planned 30 active satellites (including spares) were in orbit. Galileo started offering Early Operational Capability (EOC) on 15 December 2016, providing initial services with a weak signal and reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) in 2019. The full Galileo constellation will consist of 24 active satellites, which is expected by 2021. It is expected that the next generation of satellites will begin to become operational after 2025 to replace older equipment, which can then be used for backup capabilities.

Infographic source: rykllan

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1835310267904741878

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• B1061 is the current flight leader at 22 flights. (B1062 reached 23 but failed recovery)
• B1067 in second place with 21 flights
• B1063 in third place with 20 flights.
• B1069 and B1071 tied for 4th place at 18 flights.
• B1073 in 5th place at 17 flights.

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1835310271939723447

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Polaris Dawn Flight Day 4 Update: https://x.com/PolarisProgram/status/1834747047872020550

Expand for full tweet contents

> After an exciting and historic spacewalk on Thursday, September 12, the crew spent the majority of their Flight Day 4 focused on science and research. Polaris Dawn partnered with 31 institutions from across the world to create a robust and diverse science research portfolio throughout their time in space. > > A few of the studies the crew has focused on since arriving on-orbit have included assessing the effects of microgravity on the human airway and veinous system in addition to examining how blood flow restriction alters blood flow in space using ultrasound and smart watches. > > As humans become a spacefaring civilization, having the proper support system in the event of medical emergencies is key. The Polaris Dawn crew tested out Tempus Pro, a commercial off-the-shelf device that can collect and integrate measurements of health – including blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and more – along with ultrasound imaging capabilities. The crew was able to use it to assess and compare vital sign data collected pre-flight to that collected during their time on-orbit. > > The crew is also working with several partners to study the effects of microgravity on ocular health to help contribute to both preventative and post-diagnosis treatments associated with Spaceflight Associated Neurocular Syndrome (SANS), which many astronauts have experienced from their time in space. Check out the science and research video we shared earlier today to learn more about what the crew has been up to! > > The crew also continued to test and demonstrate Starlink aboard Dragon. One of the biggest tests of connectivity includes the ability to quickly share files. Earlier in the week, the crew recorded Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis playing “Rey’s Theme” by John Williams on the violin. Once complete, the crew successfully sent the files down to Earth over Starlink to help create this special music event named "Harmony of Resilience." > > Teams on Earth synced Gillis’s video and audio with various recorded orchestral performances around the globe, including in Los Angeles, which was attended by legendary composer John Williams and the entire Polaris Dawn crew. These performances were conducted from mid-2023 to early 2024. > > The crew wrapped their day and are gearing up for their final day on-orbit, during which more research and Starlink testing will be conducted. > > ! > > ! > > ! > > !

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Polaris Dawn Flight Day 5 Update: https://x.com/PolarisProgram/status/1835137806877729172

Expand for full tweet contents

> Polaris Dawn Flight Day 5 Update > > The crew’s final full day on-orbit was dedicated to furthering and finalizing the scientific goals of the Polaris Dawn mission, connecting with one of their training teams, and catching-up with the SpaceX family. > > Two of the day’s scientific highlights focused on preventative and life-saving studies – from identifying and understanding the risk of kidney stone formation while living in microgravity to developing and validating CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) procedures aboard the Dragon spacecraft. > > Throughout the day, the crew continued to test Starlink, including a 40+ minute, uninterrupted video call with SpaceX teams back on Earth, which took place as Dragon orbited across the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope. The plaser in Dragon’s trunk and the partner Starlink satellite for the event maintained their laser link during 16 Draco thruster firings. > > The crew also connected with members of the Air Force who helped train them for a week of solo skydiving at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. > > Before settling in for their last sleep period of the mission, the crew took some time to connect with their families and began preparing Dragon’s cabin for reentry and splashdown. > > Dragon and the crew are set to return to Earth and splash down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida on Sunday, September 15 at 3:36 a.m. ET. Stay tuned to @SpaceX on X for a livestream of the crew’s return. > > !

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Splashdown scheduled for 2024-09-15 07:36 UTC: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1835054184892448779

Webcast links:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-nBvB-0M64
• Spaceflight Now:
• NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cthjJdniQlM
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtZl85XHZGo
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1835202095781495050
• The Space Devs:

Polaris Dawn Flight Day 3 Update: https://x.com/PolarisProgram/status/1834329942043271268

>Early Thursday morning at 7:58 a.m. ET, the Polaris Dawn crew successfully completed the world’s first spacewalk – also known as an extravehicular activity (EVA) – from Dragon at 732.2 km above Earth. > >Shortly after arriving in space on Tuesday, the crew began a two-day pre-breathe process, designed to prevent decompression sickness while also preparing the crew for the environment inside the EVA suits by gradually lowering Dragon’s cabin pressure and increasing the oxygen concentration. > >Then on Thursday, the crew donned their suits and initiated Dragon seat rotation, suit tare, and the heads-up display and helmet camera checkouts. The 106-minute spacewalk officially began at 6:12 a.m. ET when suit pressurization started, the nitrogen purge was initiated, and pure oxygen (O2) was flowing into the suits. A secondary flow of oxygen primarily helped provide cooling to the suits, which would come in handy during the spacewalk. > >Once suit leak checks were complete, the crew and ground teams gave the go for Dragon to initiate venting, which took the cabin’s pressure down from ~8 psi to below 1 psi – nearly to the vacuum of space. Simultaneously, Dragon repositioned its trunk to face the sun ahead of the hatch opening. > >Mission Commander Jared Isaacman opened the hatch and for the first time, four astronauts were simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space. Jared and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis separately exited the spacecraft and individually performed a series of suit mobility demonstrations to test the performance of the spacesuit in the vacuum environment of space. Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet and Mission Specialist Anna Menon remained seated, managing suit umbilicals and monitoring vital support systems and telemetry on Dragon’s displays. > >Upon completion of their individual EVAs, the hatch was closed, Dragon re-pressurized to 14 psi, cabin oxygen and pressure levels confirmed, officially completing the suit testing alongside the first commercial spacewalk and the first EVA from a Dragon spacecraft. > >Throughout the EVA, stunning visuals were afforded by Dragon’s cameras and the spacesuits helmet cameras as the crew orbited between 184.9 x 732.2 km above Earth. > >Following the spacewalk, the crew took time to rest and recuperate, enjoying a well-deserved meal before posting from space for the first time on X using Starlink high-speed internet. The crew concluded the day by connecting with their families and settling in for their sleep period ahead of Flight Day 4.

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Polaris Dawn Flight Day 2 Update: https://x.com/PolarisProgram/status/1834035322608328747

>The Polaris Dawn crew began Flight Day 2 with an incredible milestone – Dragon reached an apogee of more than 1,400 kilometers, marking the farthest humans have traveled in space since the completion of the Apollo program over 50 years ago. Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon also became the first two women to have travelled this far in space! Mission Commander Jared Isaacman also passed the torch to the NASA Artemis crew, saying he’s looking forward to their upcoming flight. > >After completing six orbits of Earth at this altitude, Dragon performed a series of descent burns to reach an orbit of ~190 x 700 km for Thursday’s spacewalk while simultaneously continuing to safely lower its interior’s pressure, bringing the cabin environment closer to conditions required for the EVA. The crew also spent a few hours demonstrating the suit’s pressurized mobility, verifying positions and accessibility in microgravity along with preparing the cabin for the EVA. > >In addition to EVA prep, the crew conducted a series of activities on-orbit, including time dedicated to science and research. The crew focused on monitoring initial changes to eye sight and ocular health, studying how fluid shifts and exposure to microgravity affect blood flow, and assessed how medications are processed by the body while on-orbit. > >The entire crew met with representatives from Folds of Honor — an organization providing educational scholarships to spouses and children of America's fallen and disabled military service-members and first responders — honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of the United States. > >Anna then read her book, Kisses from Space, to a group of St. Jude patients and her family, followed by a Q&A session. Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East joined the crew via video transmission to host the book reading. > >Jared, Kidd, Sarah, and Anna ended their day with individual family calls conducted over Starlink connections and preparing a special message for fans later in the mission before settling in for a good night’s sleep ahead of tomorrow’s world-first commercial spacewalk. > >! > >! > >! > >!

Spacewalk is currently scheduled for 09:58 UTC, per SpaceX.

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmaEloJtgxc (scrub) | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daEIqRJLLr8 | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUQOTyaXb8 | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X-aGkOGSwQ (scrub) | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1834154037606056327 | The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwCLN2riHE4

Starlink Group 9-6 launch out of SLC-4E in California currently scheduled for 2024-09-13 01:45 UTC, or 2024-09-12 18:45 local time (PDT). Booster 1071-18 to land on Of Course I Still Love You.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1s13TgnWIk
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1FzpqxdHDw
• NASASpaceflight:
• The Launch Pad:
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1834406385418993826
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWNmw6rSfVM

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-12, 08:52 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-12, 04:52 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA | | Booster | B1078-13 | | Landing | LZ-1 | | Payload | BlueBird Block 1 #1-5 | | Customer | AST SpaceMobile | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to LEO |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBL5U_wwYqw | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeq5HVrfpFQ | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oqZtThBoG4 | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqLMETRJ7Ho | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1834149741481046421 | The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZvfKKyE8jw

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 19th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 43rd launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 6 days, 17:19:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 41 day turnaround for B1078

☑️ 44th landing on LZ-1

☑️ 348th Falcon Family Booster landing, 359th Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 88th Falcon 9 mission this year, 374th Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 89th SpaceX mission of 2024, 389th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 91th SpaceX launch this year, 402nd SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight mission page

>This mission will launch the first 5 commercial satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s cellphone-compatible broadband constellation. In orbit, they will provide connectivity for smartphones outside cellular coverage in partnership with mobile network operators (MNOs). > >The satellites use AST & Science's patented technologies for connecting to cellphones in a space environment for their SpaceMobile constellation. Each satellite will deploy a 10 m diameter phased array antenna with an area of 64 meters squared consisting of numerous identical sub-antenna modules to connect directly to standard mobile phones.

Polaris Dawn Flight Day 1 Update: https://x.com/PolarisProgram/status/1833648070011109784

>The Polaris Dawn crew completed their first day on-orbit, also known as Flight Day 1. After a successful launch by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:23 a.m. ET, the crew took off their spacesuits and began their multi-day mission. > >Shortly after liftoff, the crew began a two-day pre-breathe protocol in preparation for their anticipated spacewalk on Thursday, September 12 (Flight Day 3). During this time, Dragon’s pressure slowly lowers while oxygen levels inside the cabin increase, helping purge nitrogen from the crew’s bloodstreams. This will help lower the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) during all spacewalk operations. > >About two hours into Flight Day 1, the crew enjoyed their first on-orbit meals before engaging in the mission’s first science and research block and testing Starlink, which lasted about 3.5 hours. > >Dragon made its first pass through the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), a region where Earth’s magnetic field is weaker, allowing more high-energy particles from space to penetrate closer to Earth. Mission control operators and the crew worked closely to monitor and respond to the vehicle’s systems across all high-apogee phases of flight, particularly through the SAA region. > >Mid-day, the crew settled in for their first sleep period in space, during which Dragon will perform its first apogee raising burn. Orbiting Earth higher than any humans in over 50 years, the crew will rest for about eight hours ahead of a busy day on Flight Day 2. > >Most excitingly, during its first orbit, Dragon reached an apogee of approximately 1,216 kilometers, making Polaris Dawn the highest Dragon mission flown to date. Following a healthy systems checkout, the crew and mission control will monitor the spacecraft ahead of the vehicle raising itself to an elliptical orbit of 190 x 1,400 kilometers at the start of Flight Day 2.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19629202

Polaris Dawn!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-10, 09:23 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-10, 05:23 (EDT) | | Mission | Polaris Dawn | | Launch site | LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA | | Booster | B1083-4 | | Landing site | Just Read the Instructions | | Dragon | Resilience C207-3 | | Commander | Jared Isaacman | | Pilot | Scott Poteet | | Mission Specialist | Sarah Gillis | | Mission Specialist | Anna Menon |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6et8-MVR3Qg | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzVVSxAXicw | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8fbz_sVfU | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWOYQ5Dto7c | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAs5qzu9VwQ | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1833358277805039800 | The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDCcRWoGNJs

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 17th launch from LC-39A this year

☑️ 28 days, 21:01:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 91st landing on JRTI

☑️ 18th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch if successful

☑️ 87th Falcon 9 launch this year, 373rd Falcon 9 launch overall

☑️ 347th Falcon booster landing if successful, 358th Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 88th SpaceX mission this year, 388th overall (excluding Starship hops)

☑️ 90th SpaceX launch this year, 401st overall (including Starship hops)

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Mission info

• SpaceX mission website
• NextSpaceflight mission page

> Polaris Dawn is a crew mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon Spacecraft. The Polaris Dawn crew (Commander Jared Isaacman, Pilot Scott Poteet, and Mission Specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon) will spend up to five days in orbit, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and will attempt to reach the highest Earth orbit flown since the Apollo program. The Polaris Dawn crew will support scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflight, be the first to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, and will attempt the first spacewalk from a Dragon Spacecraft.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-06, 03:20 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-05, 20:20 (PDT) | | Launch site | SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB, California, USA | | Booster | B1063-20 | | Landing | Of Course I Still Love You | | Payload | NROL-113 | | Customer | National Reconnaissance Office | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to LEO |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEHplxmatco | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGUkhL4FCIQ | NASASpaceflight | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-QXLkgPp48 | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1831892881591689372 | The Space Devs |

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 17th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 29th launch from SLC-4E this year

☑️ 5 days, 18:32:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 56 day turnaround for B1063

☑️ 101st landing on OCISLY

☑️ 346th Falcon Family Booster landing, 357th Falcon recovery attempt

☑️ 86th Falcon 9 mission this year, 372nd Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 87th SpaceX mission of 2024, 387th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 89th SpaceX launch this year, 400th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight mission page

>Third batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to provide imaging and other reconnaissance capabilities.

Starlink Group 8-11 launch out of SLC-40 in Florida currently scheduled for 2024-09-05 15:33 UTC, or 2024-09-05 11:33 local time (EDT). Booster 1077-15 to land on Just Read the Instructions.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9yoHC-Uzp8 (scrub)
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP0O7j4726c (scrub)
• NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4gimZZgJ8A (scrub)
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze9CqcISoQQ (scrub)
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1831715816422752429
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqYF_z4vg68

> The turnaround time between [Starlink 9-5] and the previous flight, Starlink 8-10, was a record for SpaceX at one hour and five minutes.

Different boosters on different coasts, but still cool.

Infographic source: rykllan

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1830330737788092665

!

• B1062 successfully completed its 23rd mission, but failed its 23rd recovery.
• B1061 is now the sole flight leader at 22 flights.
• B1067 in second place with 21 flights
• B1063 in third place with 19 flights.
• B1069 in 4th place at 18 flights.
• B1071 and B1073 are tied for 5th place at 17 flights each.

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1830330746055061979

!

New CSI Starbase episode just dropped.

Edit: Additional background info from Zack: https://x.com/CSI_Starbase/status/1830325913776726136

Expand for full tweet

This 77 minute deep dive investigation is a combined re-analysis of the first 4 flight tests of Starship. The main focus of the episode is what I describe as a toxic relationship between Raptor 2 & Superheavy. This is a topic that I don't think a lot of folks fully understand.

While I do take somewhat of a satirical approach, there are a few things I want to make sure people understand.

After watching this episode, some folks may come away asking: Why would SpaceX put themselves in this situation to begin with? Should they have known better? Are they ignoring decades of research?

This is not the question I am intending to answer with this episode, nor am I attempting to throw shade although you may potentially leave with that impression.

Instead, my goal here is to highlight some critical challenges that commonly occur when you have multiple teams working on a project, and each of those teams have similar but different goals.

In this case you have:

1. The Raptor Development team who - in my opinion - was doing everything they could to figure out how to produce an extremely powerful, yet reliable, full flow combustion cycle methalox engine.

At the same time, they also needed to keep rapid manufacturability at the front of their priority list. For every test flight, they need to produce and successfully test 39 engines along with a handful of spares.

And perhaps most importantly, they needed to do it under ABSURD time constraints in order to keep the program moving forward.

Raptor is without a doubt, the most important part of the entire Starship equation at this point in the development process. It is the singular dependent variable which had the potential to cause immense delays for the Starship, Superheavy and arguably the Stage Zero team as well.

The Raptor team did not have the luxury of spending years/decades developing the perfect engine that would not only achieve an insane level of performance and reliability, but do so while also checking off every item on the wishlist of the other teams.

For that reason, important decisions related to the design of the engine (sacrifices may be the better word here) had to be made to temporarily reduce complexity and allow Integrated Flight Testing to begin.

From an outsiders point of view, I believe Superheavy would have never gotten off of the ground with Raptor 1 and would likely have destroyed the launch site in the process of attempting to do so.

Raptor 2 was a minimally viable product capable of preventing from happening...but not without ALOT of help from 👇🏾

2. Team Superheavy - The booster design and build teams had the incredibly difficult task of giving the Raptor Development team some much needed breathing room.

Think of it this way..... ___________________________________________________ TR2 - "Look...we really need more time to get this right"

TSH - "Okay, Lets make a trade - yal give us 3 to 400 semi-reliable engines ASAP and we will find a way to compensate for the current shortcomings while you switch your focus over to developing Raptor 3."

TR2 - "Say less! But FYI it kind of has a very strong tendency to leak fuel, randomly explode...oh and theres going to be some unavoidable contamination of your fuel supply for now"

TSH - "Yeah we noticed that...but don't worry! We will just add 20, wait 40, okay ~50 tons of protective measures onto the vehicle.

Damn, this is a MAJOR hit on performance for us but we have your backs. PLEASE. Make it. Count. "

TSS - "AYO that was WAY more ice then we were expecting." 🤣 ____________________________________________________

Keep in mind, there are no sources revealing behind the scenes information here. This, along with everything included in the episode is just my light hearted interpretation of what I have observed over the last year and a half.

The point I'm trying to make here is that none of these things were surprises. Everything was expected and minimally prepared for. I say minimally, because the key is to not overdo it.

In order to avoid unnecessary mass penalties, the severity of what they were dealing with had to be observed in-flight to provide SS and SH teams the data they needed to adjust accordingly.

And THAT is what this episode is about!

Instead of criticizing their decisions, I hope you all can appreciate having somewhat of an inside look at the amazing things the SpaceX team is achieving.

Space is hard, and every company that decides to hop in the game faces similar challenges...we just don't get to hear about it. Especially to the degree that I'm attempting to cover here.

If you are still reading...there is one more thing I want to mention

Comments About Statements made in the Episode: This is important for me to address considering several people have pointed it out.

There is a chance (I'm still not fully convinced yet) that we may have made some errors with our assumption of how gravitational forces will play a role in this situation.

The CSI team is much larger than you might expect, and by some miracle happens to include people with some level of real world expertise in nearly ever topic we attempt to cover.

We typically - with rare exception - spend a great deal of time discussing the relevant math, physics, chemistry, industrial process etc. before it ever reaches my scripts. While I do write everything myself...its far from a one man show.

With that said, we are not perfect and do get things wrong occasionally. On this topic in particular there were split opinions on whether or not earths gravity would produce the effects I've described.

Ultimately, instead of debating it for weeks on end, I decided to include it in this episode. Whether that was the correct decision or not, I'm not sure. Either way I think 95% of the observations made in this episode remain true, or are reasonable assumptions.

My goal is to help folks understand the issues they were facing...and take a look at how they went about solving them.

As far as the gravity stuff....The main point I was going for is that Superheavy is allergic to roll maneuvers and the rest is me trying to explain and help yal visualize why that is. Maybe we could have done better, had we taken an additional month or two to continue the research phase, but that was not an option so we did the best we could with the time available.

Anyway this is way longer than I intended and I hope you all enjoy the episode 🕵🏽‍♂️🫶🏾

Second launch of a potential double header tonight.

Starlink Group 8-10 launch out of SLC-40 in Florida currently scheduled for 2024-08-31 07:43 UTC, or 2024-08-31 03:43 local time (EDT). Booster 1069-18 to land on Just Read the Instructions.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82etoCgfwMM
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JID7_Fir1kY
• NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R80ooQOHsEc
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnBJKh-WecY
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1829785683193463223
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKN7JG2M92k

First launch of a potential double-header tonight, and the first booster to fly for the 23rd time!

Starlink Group 8-6 launch out of SLC-40 in Florida currently scheduled for 2024-08-28 07:48 UTC, or 2024-08-28 03:48 local time (EDT). Booster 1062-23 to land on Just Read the Instructions.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qwc1T1kqUI
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCEEYJahjaE
• NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZGxcDxvPN8
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnBJKh-WecY
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1828699644844785981
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va6JNrFWgbE

First launch of a potential double header tonight.

Starlink Group 9-5 launch out of SLC-4E in California currently scheduled for 2024-08-31 08:48 UTC, or 2024-08-31 01:48 local time (PDT). Booster 1081-9 to land on Of Course I Still Love You.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBKBSjytSlc
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx8Km53YztI
• NASASpaceflight:
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKN-tq9I2nE
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1829802012655173719
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBGT5UYA6jI

Source: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1828616363071676482

> Due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida, we are now standing down from tonight and tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch opportunities of Polaris Dawn. Teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions

Seems like it's always helium, doesn't it?