SpaceX
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heisan
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Re: SpaceX
And Musk has just confirmed that the next flight will try to catch the booster on the launch tower...
(Flight 5 hardware is already pretty much ready for final tests. Starship preemptively has a completely different flap fairing design to test too.)
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Re: SpaceX
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bladerunner
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Re: SpaceX
Pretty sure you spotted it!Sunbird wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 4:23 pm A line from Boca Chica over Africa and southern tip of Madagascar into the Indian ocean went over Etosha pan. We live on a farm just south of Etosha. While waiting for the reentry, my wife and I decided to look for Starship as it was only 140 km or so altitude. It has a very reflective top half steel hull and the sun was in a favorable afternoon position to the north west. To our surprise we did see something glinting very faintly on the expected trajectory!! We followed it for more than a minute!! We went back back inside to watch the rest of the drama. Afterwards I did check Flight radar to see whether it was not perhaps an aircraft, but the only flight was Luanda to to Johannesburg which would have been too far away. It was very, very faint, anyone else?
I recognized Etosha Pan from the inflight footage.
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Patrick AL
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heisan
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Re: SpaceX
Whee. FAA has confirmed flight 4 was within parameters - no accident investigation required. So flight 5 can go whenever they are ready.
BUT it seems like they have a new recipe from the Bakery, so they are stripping all (eek!) the tiles from ship 30 and replacing them with the new type. So it will be a while before they generate some more excitement.
BUT it seems like they have a new recipe from the Bakery, so they are stripping all (eek!) the tiles from ship 30 and replacing them with the new type. So it will be a while before they generate some more excitement.
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Re: SpaceX
Great 10th launch of Falcon Heavy!
Always stunning to watch the co-ordinated landings of the twin boosters! ( at 49 min. in the vid.)
All that automation and control data must be invaluable for Starship development, and will surely help to see precise landing attempts with Starship within the next few launches.
Always stunning to watch the co-ordinated landings of the twin boosters! ( at 49 min. in the vid.)
All that automation and control data must be invaluable for Starship development, and will surely help to see precise landing attempts with Starship within the next few launches.
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Patrick AL
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Re: SpaceX
Part 2 of Everyday Astronaut's recent tour of Starbase with Elon -this time to the launch pad.
The scale and 'faired' finish to everything at the Orbital Launch Mount makes it all look very much like a CGI Animation scene!
The scale and 'faired' finish to everything at the Orbital Launch Mount makes it all look very much like a CGI Animation scene!
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Patrick AL
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Re: SpaceX
https://www.space.com/spacex-polaris-da ... ch-july-31
SpaceX targeting July 31 for launch of historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission
News
By Elizabeth Howell
published 19 hours ago
It will be the second spaceflight for billionaire Jared Isaacman.
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illustration of an astronaut in a white spacesuit emerging from a white capsule in space
Illustration of a Polaris Dawn crewmember conducting the first-ever private spacewalk. (Image credit: SpaceX)
The first commercial spaceflight mission with a spacewalk now has a launch date.
Polaris Dawn, part of a private human spaceflight program funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will launch no earlier than July 31, project representatives announced today (July 3) in a brief statement on X. Isaacman and SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, whose company will provide Polaris Dawn's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, have not yet put statements out on social media.
The crew plans to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk with bespoke SpaceX spacesuits made for the effort, along with a raft of experiments. Polaris Dawn's orbit will take the mission about 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth, in the highest-altitude crewed flight since the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s. For comparison, the International Space Station orbits at roughly 250 miles (400 km).
Polaris Dawn will be the first of a trio of missions of the Polaris Program, all funded and commanded by Isaacman. The Shift4 founder also helmed and bankrolled the all-civilian Inspiration4 launch in September 2021, which raised $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee along the way; Isaacman plans to continue that support with the Polaris missions.
Related: How SpaceX's private Polaris Dawn astronauts will attempt the 1st-ever 'all-civilian' spacewalk
Aside from Isaacman, the mission includes retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieut. Col. Scott "Kidd" Poteet as pilot and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX operations engineers.
The complexity of the mission, according to project representatives, required delays during development from an initial launch target of late 2022. The most recent major delay in February 2024 pushed the projected April launch into summer.
SpaceX targeting July 31 for launch of historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission
News
By Elizabeth Howell
published 19 hours ago
It will be the second spaceflight for billionaire Jared Isaacman.
Comments (0)
illustration of an astronaut in a white spacesuit emerging from a white capsule in space
Illustration of a Polaris Dawn crewmember conducting the first-ever private spacewalk. (Image credit: SpaceX)
The first commercial spaceflight mission with a spacewalk now has a launch date.
Polaris Dawn, part of a private human spaceflight program funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will launch no earlier than July 31, project representatives announced today (July 3) in a brief statement on X. Isaacman and SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, whose company will provide Polaris Dawn's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, have not yet put statements out on social media.
The crew plans to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk with bespoke SpaceX spacesuits made for the effort, along with a raft of experiments. Polaris Dawn's orbit will take the mission about 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth, in the highest-altitude crewed flight since the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s. For comparison, the International Space Station orbits at roughly 250 miles (400 km).
Polaris Dawn will be the first of a trio of missions of the Polaris Program, all funded and commanded by Isaacman. The Shift4 founder also helmed and bankrolled the all-civilian Inspiration4 launch in September 2021, which raised $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee along the way; Isaacman plans to continue that support with the Polaris missions.
Related: How SpaceX's private Polaris Dawn astronauts will attempt the 1st-ever 'all-civilian' spacewalk
Aside from Isaacman, the mission includes retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieut. Col. Scott "Kidd" Poteet as pilot and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX operations engineers.
The complexity of the mission, according to project representatives, required delays during development from an initial launch target of late 2022. The most recent major delay in February 2024 pushed the projected April launch into summer.
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heisan
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Re: SpaceX
Yup Flight 5 still on target for a late July or early August launch.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the Falcon program, which is grounded after an upper stage Merlin-Vacuum failure. This brings the longest run of uninterrupted successful rocket launches for a single rocket model to an end at 325 successful launches.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the Falcon program, which is grounded after an upper stage Merlin-Vacuum failure. This brings the longest run of uninterrupted successful rocket launches for a single rocket model to an end at 325 successful launches.
Justin Schoeman
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heisan
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Re: SpaceX
A long wait, but it looks like things are happening again.
Falcon returned to flight today after a 2 week interruption (above mentioned Merlin vacuum failure).
The 2nd launch tower at Starbase is rising rapidly.
They have done a lot of testing of the original launch tower to fully characterise the mechazilla dynamics for the catch attempt.
The last hardware for flight 5 seems to have completed testing, so we should see pre-flight preparations soon.
Static testing for flight 6 hardware is complete, and they have started fitting engines.
The first V2 starship is about 1/2 way done, and incorporates a lot of changes.
Hopefully, things will start picking up speed even more, as all of this comes together.
Falcon returned to flight today after a 2 week interruption (above mentioned Merlin vacuum failure).
The 2nd launch tower at Starbase is rising rapidly.
They have done a lot of testing of the original launch tower to fully characterise the mechazilla dynamics for the catch attempt.
The last hardware for flight 5 seems to have completed testing, so we should see pre-flight preparations soon.
Static testing for flight 6 hardware is complete, and they have started fitting engines.
The first V2 starship is about 1/2 way done, and incorporates a lot of changes.
Hopefully, things will start picking up speed even more, as all of this comes together.
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Re: SpaceX
Some great closeup slomo video of static fire test released by SpaceX
Next launch looking to be delayed a bit to early September-
Next launch looking to be delayed a bit to early September-
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heisan
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Re: SpaceX
Bah. Looks like another RVAC swap for ship 31, and preparing for another static fire. 3rd time lucky?
On another note, it looks like Raptor 3 is nearing readiness:
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/18197 ... 64/photo/1 : Hopefully this will also bring more reliability.
On another note, it looks like Raptor 3 is nearing readiness:
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/18197 ... 64/photo/1 : Hopefully this will also bring more reliability.
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Re: SpaceX
It's incredible to see the Raptor development - such incredible rationalisation of the engine system/production method!
As Elon says 'The best part is no part!'
As Elon says 'The best part is no part!'
