Starship News

[IXLR8]

Starship scheduled for the 4th flight did a full throttle test burn on March 25. Booster still needs to be moved to launch pad for it's testing. They found some burned cryogenic delivery lines on the launch pad that need to be repaired/replaced before any testing of the booster can happen. SpaceX hoping for early May launch for flight test 4.

 

[IXLR8]

The Starship Booster was moved to the launch pad on Thursday April 4th, and a static fire test of the engines was done on Friday the 5th. Still hoping for early May launch date.

 

[IXLR8]

Looks like Starship 4 and booster 11 were moved to their maintenance buildings a few weeks ago. Starship 5 was moved to launch pad to test fire the 6 engines a few days ago.
Starship 4/Booster 11 are waiting for FAA to finish evaluation/report on Starship 3 flight before granting license for Starship 4 flight.

 

[IXLR8]

Booster 11 was moved back to the launch pad on Saturday. Assumption was for more testing. I saw a footnote that said that SpaceX has a license for Starship 4 flight, but SpaceX wants a modification to the license and that is what they are waiting for. Musk posted on X that he thinks Starship 4 launch is 3-5 weeks out.

 

[otlski]

Jim, are you a member of the NSF Forums?

 

[IXLR8]

Jim, are you a member of the NSF Forums?

Nope, I just do a search for "Starship x launch" whenever I happen to think about it and see what pops up.

 

[IXLR8]

On Wed, the 15th, the ship was stacked on top of the booster at the launch site. They are still talking 3-5 weeks before launch as the requested license modifications have not been approved yet.

 

[IXLR8]

On Monday, the 20th, they loaded the ship and booster with a total of 10 millions lbs of propellant as part of a practice countdown. It was a successful test. Tuesday they removed the propellant, removed the ship from the booster and put it back in the maintenance hanger. They are still installing the heat shield tiles. Key deliverable for this flight is successful reentry/splashdown for both the booster and the ship. They are not planning on relighting the engines or anything else they did on launch 3. Musk tweeted today that ship 4 should launch in about 2 weeks. Although they are still waiting for FAA approval.

 

[IXLR8]

Starship flight 4 has a penciled in launch time/date of 08:00 EDT June 5. This is dependent on getting the FAA approval in time. Issues with flight 3, both booster and the ship, are reported to be centered around dirt in O2 tanks and not enough filtration causing nozzles to get plugged and then the engines and thrusters to not re-ignite when needed.

 

[IXLR8]

According to SpaceFlightNow.com, Starship 4 launch has been moved to NET June 6 08:00EDT.
No reason given for the one day delay.
FAA has told SpaceX they can launch Starship 4 without completing the Starship 3 investigation, but it is unclear if the FAA has signed off on the launch license for Starship 4.
NET= Not Earlier Than

 

[sd455dan]

According to SpaceFlightNow.com, Starship 4 launch has been moved to NET June 6 08:00EDT.
No reason given for the one day delay.
FAA has told SpaceX they can launch Starship 4 without completing the Starship 3 investigation, but it is unclear if the FAA has signed off on the launch license for Starship 4.
NET= Not Earlier Than

It looked like we might have a dual launch on the 5th at one point, with Starship and Starliner.

Interesting space launch days ahead for sure.

China just landed on the moon and acquired samples which are already on their way back to earth..

China's lunar probe flies a flag on the far side of the moon, sends samples back toward Earth

China hails its lunar probe mission as a success after unfurling a Chinese flag on the far side of the moon and collecting rock and soil samples.

www.cbsnews.com

America needs to step up our game thank goodness for SpaceX.

 

[IXLR8]

On Tuesday FAA gave SpaceX approval for Starship 4 launch. Still looking at June 6 launch, 3 hr launch window opens at 08:00 EDT.

 

[sd455dan]

SpaceX will offer a free live webcast of the Starship Flight 4 launch beginning at about 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT). You can watch the livestream here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX.

What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 4 launch test today?

SpaceX is targeting a launch at 8:50 a.m. EDT on June 6.

www.space.com

 

[sd455dan]

Looking great so far

boost back successful with soft water landing of the booster.
Starship is on trajectory coasting for landing burn upcoming to soft land in Indian Ocean.

Major improvement from last launch so far.

They burned a flap on descent but had video some of the landing water landing engine firing was successful.

A great job SpaceX.

 

[IXLR8]

Starship 5 launch to be near the end of July. FAA says none of the issues with Starship 4 flight will require investigation. For flight 5 booster landing, Musk says he is planning on "capturing" the booster at the launch pad and believes that will require a new license approval. Lots of work to be done regarding the heat shield tiles and the heat shields for the 'flaps' before next launch. Work being done on the second launch pad at Boca Chica. There is also going to be 2 launch pads in Florida. Plan being one for launching, one for 'catching'. It was also noted that 1 of the 13 engines firing during 'boost back' to slow the decent of the booster in prep for 'landing' in the ocean, blew up shortly after re-ignition. No word yet as to why. It was noted that the hold down clamps at the launch pad were being removed, again, no word as to why.

 

[riptides]

Interesting graphic on launches.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777551453529284878

 

[sd455dan]

New Interview with the Everyday astronaut and Elon at Starbase and the future :

 

[oosik]

Starship is still not available in my area. I signed up to upgrade my HughesNet equipment. They are using a new satellite - Jupiter. I will soon see if it's that much better. Upgrade installation will be done on - 6/29/24.

 

[sd455dan]

Starship is still not available in my area. I signed up to upgrade my HughesNet equipment. They are using a new satellite - Jupiter. I will soon see if it's that much better. Upgrade installation will be done on - 6/29/24.

Oosik type in your address in the service box shown in the first link .
It will tell you if service is available at your address

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

Starlink | Availability Map

View availability, coverage, speeds and latency for Starlink service.

www.starlink.com

All of eastern Washington has Starlink service available unless I am missing something.

Starlink is unlimited Data and most days our download speeds are over 100Mbs with 20ms latency.


Hughesnet will never match the latency, because of using geostationary satellites

Starship is the new reusable Rocket SpaceX is testing

 

[oosik]

sd55dan - I just did that. I guess it IS available now. They didn't say yes or no. They listed the price. The monthly cost is about $60/month more that I will be paying for the new HughesNet Jupiter system.