It was a perfect day for a launch. It seemed the only issue was not all 13 Raptor engines on the booster lit up on splashdown causing a rougher splashdown then expected. You can watch the launch on SpaceX

Highlighted Times

2:00 - Program starts

15:00 - Propellants being loaded and a description of Starship Version 3

24:00 - Flight profile then Starship and the Artemis III mission - 26:50

34:00 - 1 minute to launch. Turn up the volume. You can hear the windows shaking in the command center

40:00 - Live shot off the booster showing its return to Starbase splashing down roughly 2 miles offshore. Excellent views all the way to splashdown

1:20:00 - After deploying 20 Starlink satellites Starship starts reentry

1:37:50 - Starship reentry continues splashing down 1:40:20 in the Indian Ocean, a perfect splashdown this time. Drone views end 1:46:30

Great event yesterday!!

Thank you Orion for the chronological account and ongoing coverage.

I agree soot. Awesome. for the updates Orion.

Thanks Orion.

Launch Pad Technicians, like they did after test flight 12, are inspecting all portions of the launch pad looking for any issues with the tower and launch mount after flight 13's launch. Any changes SpaceX wants to make to the launch pad could be done at this time as well. They have these 300 foot Boom Lifts that takes workers to the underneath side of the Quick Disconnect Arm, the platform that fuels the ship, along with other parts of the tower. They have a variety manlifts reaching to areas that can't be reached by technicians on the tower. You can see these manlifts in use on occasion from here - Starship Live - scroll back.

Three boom lifts are in use here on the older version of launch pad 1. The crane was used to stack the booster and ship on this version. Now the tower does the work - click on picks to enlarge

Starship Update - Waiting on test flight 14 to schedule, looking like some time in August

Launch angles you didn't see - Starship Test Flight 13 Launch


Space Coast Live - Nasa's has 2 Starship launch pads under construction one almost completed. They are hoping for a test flight launch from the Cape by end of year. There are plans to build towers that will only catch returns, boosters and ships, in Florida and Texas

NSF Broadcasts

Thanks Orion ... great links and information

Starship Update - Very good update across the board - Flight 13, Starbase production & testing, Cape Canaveral launch site. Possible ship catch test flight 14?

Thanks, Orion!

I would like to add my thanks, Orion. This is all very informative and much appreciated.

My thanks also !! 👍👍👍

Getting closer to Test Flight 14. All testing has been completed on ship 41. It's in Maga Bay 2 being loaded with Starlink satelites

Booster 21 will be transported to launch pad 2 Tues 1pm to 5pm EST for a static fire test then transported to Mega Bay 1 for final checks. There are a number of tests ran during this SFT. Some of them - clamps holding the booster to the launch pad, propellant connection and fueling, ignition, engine checks, deluge system

If all goes well with the SFT a launch date should be announced


Starship Live

Latest Update



Starship - The Beginning

Elon Musk began developing the concept that became Starship in 2012 to fulfill his long-term goal of colonizing Mars and making humanity a multiplanetary species. While the overarching vision dates back to SpaceX's founding in 2002, active design work on the heavy-lift reusable architecture started a decade later

Musk's core motivation for founding SpaceX and building Starship has always been to establish a self-sustaining human city on Mars to ensure the long-term survival of human consciousness and life. Conventional rockets were too expensive. Starship was designed for complete and rapid reusability across the booster and spacecraft to drastically lower the cost per flight. The system was built with massive payload capacities to transport heavy cargo and large crews to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond


Timeline:

2002: Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the ultimate intent of enabling human life on Mars

2012: Musk publicly details initial plans for a giant reusable rocket system

2014: Construction starts on SpaceX's Starbase located in Starbase City, TX near the Boca Chica Peninsula on the Gulf of America

2019: Low-altitude prototype testing begins with the "Starhopper" in Boca Chica, Texas. Starhopper was the first low-altitude prototype built by SpaceX for the Starship development program. Resembling a stainless steel water tower, it was tested in 2019 at SpaceX's Boca Chica facility in South Texas to validate the structural design and the performance of the first methane-fueled engine, the Raptor engines first controlled flight test. Starhopper is on the site standing tall near launch pad 2

2022: SpaceX officially adopts the name Starship as prototype iterations transition to orbital-scale testing

2023: Starship Test Flight 1 - scroll to 39:00 for launch


Next: Starbase