SpaceX

[Patrick AL]

https://twitter.com/Space_Time3/status/ ... 0621222176 :

Kathy Lueders provided an update on Starbase yesterday. Here are the key points she made:

Starship's IFT-4 licence is expected the last week of May or possibly early June.

SpaceX's Starfactory is nearly complete and should be finalised by the end of this year!

SpaceX is working on enhancing the general infrastructure that surrounds Starbase!

IFT-4 wet dress rehearsal should be done in the next week. It was delayed due to an issue with Ship 31 during its testing.

SpaceX is working on a project to construct a highway or create a secondary pathway.

Tours around Starbase have been suspended due to the extensive amount of construction. An educational day may be organised for October.

Mssed Starwars Day by a mile, but maybe this month still. Ship is stacking now for the Wet Dress Rehearsal.

[Patrick AL]

https://www.flyingmag.com/spacex-starsh ... -predicts/




SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever constructed, will fly again in June, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted over the weekend.

The company’s massive rocket and Super Heavy booster, which when stacked together stand nearly 400 feet tall, have been grounded since March as the FAA conducts a mishap investigation into Starship’s third uncrewed orbital test flight.

However, Musk on Saturday posted an image to social media platform X—which he acquired in October 2022—of Starship and Super Heavy being moved back to the company’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, which hosted the rocket’s first three test flights.

In response to a query about the date of the fourth flight, called Integrated Flight Test 4 or IFT-4, Musk gave a timeline of three to five weeks. That would place the next launch sometime in June.

Probably 3 to 5 weeks.

Objective is for the ship to get past max heating or at least further than last time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2024

SpaceX has a hit-or-miss track record when it comes to predicting Starship launches. Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s chief operating officer, said in March for example that IFT-4 could launch as soon as early May.

During the lead-up to Starship’s second test flight, which ultimately launched in November, Musk gave a timeline of six to eight weeks in April and again in June. In September, he said the rocket was “ready to launch” and was swiftly rebuffed by the FAA. However, on November 3, SpaceX correctly predicted that Starship would launch again by the middle of the month.

Starship’s three test flights have improved on each attempt but resulted in groundings of varying lengths by the FAA. The agency’s initial investigation spanned from April to November. The second took half as long, wrapping up between November and February.

Given the improvements made to Starship and Starbase before the rocket’s second flight test—such as the installation of a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launch pad to contain debris—and the relative success of its third flight test, SpaceX could be looking at a similar timeline of around three months for the current investigation. That would put it in line to close in June, making Musk’s prediction appear feasible.

Musk and SpaceX have already set ambitious goals for Starship’s fourth flight. The biggest will be to survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, which is where the previous mission failed. Both Starship and the Super Heavy booster are designed to be reusable.

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[Sunbird]

4 May, 5 June, what's the difference?

Next launch provisionally set for 5 June. The following article contains a break down of what went wrong on flight 3, and the goals for flight 4.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/s ... d-landing/

Lots of paperwork (closure notices and NOTMARs) starting to come through, so looks like they are fairly sure of the date.

[Patrick AL]

https://twitter.com/BCCarCounters/statu ... 0651835778

GOrh14wWQAU0Uy0.png

No public safety issue means that flight 4 license application can go ahead. So 4-5 June looks about right.

Final wet dress rehearsal was today - if there were no issues, then pretty much ready to go from SpaceX's side.

[propstrap]

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-s ... t-may-2024

SpaceX fuels Starship megarocket again to prep for test flight (photos)

It was the second "wet dress rehearsal" for this Starship vehicle, which could launch in just a week or so.

Heisan, your dates appear spot on -

"Starship and Super Heavy loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant in a rehearsal ahead of Flight 4. Launch is targeted as early as June 5, pending regulatory approval," SpaceX said today (May 29) in an X post, which also shared photos of the procedure.

[heisan]

FTS explosives installed a few hours ago. So they are confident of timelines.

[NineThreeKilo]

As a American one of our best imports ever was Elon

Also our top “African American” lol

[heisan]

Now scheduled for 6 June...

[scavanger]

Next Starship launch is tomorrow, with backup dates published as well.

Link to live stream for tomorrow: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWYzDXjWGQ

https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt.jsp

SPACEX STARSHIP FLT4, BOCA CHICA, TX
PRIMARY: 06/06/24 1200Z-1437Z
BACKUP:
06/07/24 1200Z-1307Z
06/08/24 1200Z-1307Z
06/09/24 1200Z-1307Z

[Patrick AL]

Starship #4 launch in just under 3 hrs.

Everyday Astronaut -Tim Dodd- always has good coverage and excellent commentary.

( He's also due to do another lengthy interview and walkabout of Starbase with Elon soon.)

Good Luck SpaceX!

[scavanger]

That was incredible.

[GLF4]

Time to watch a YT vid and catch up.

[NewGroundPounder]

That was incredible.

Jip, it was
Both the booster and Starship made soft landings in the ocean, Starship with at least one of it's control flaps melted halfway through

[Kwagga]

Was very exciting. I wonder how accurate the booster landed relative to the virtual tower.

[Sunbird]

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?