Next SpaceX UPDATE... new link added

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test\

 

ADDED: EMBEDDED YOUTUBE LINK:

 

 

SpaceX is targeting as soon as Thursday, April 20 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas. The 62 minute launch window opens at 8:28 a.m. CT and closes at 9:30 a.m. CT.

Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond. With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship.

To date, the SpaceX team has completed multiple sub-orbital flight tests of Starship’s upper stage from Starbase, successfully demonstrating an unprecedented approach to controlled flight. These flight tests helped validate the vehicle’s design, proving Starship can fly through the subsonic phase of entry before re-lighting its engines and flipping itself to a vertical configuration for landing.

In addition to the testing of Starship’s upper stage, the team has conducted numerous tests of the Super Heavy rocket, which include the increasingly complex static fires that led to a full-duration 31 Raptor engine test – the largest number of simultaneous rocket engine ignitions in history. The team has also constructed the world’s tallest rocket launch and catch tower. At 146 meters, or nearly 500 feet tall, the launch and catch tower is designed to support vehicle integration, launch, and catch of the Super Heavy rocket booster. For the first flight test, the team will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the Super Heavy booster.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin ~45 minutes before liftoff. As is the case with all developmental testing, this schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our social media channels for updates.

As we venture into new territory, we continue to appreciate all of the support and encouragement we have received from those who share our vision of a future where humanity is out exploring among the stars!

[Pat Riot]

Dangit! I’ll be turkey hunting. 
 

For selfish reasons I hope it’s delayed. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

BUMP

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

"Look at how awesomely our stuff exploded!"

[Pat Riot]

I couldn’t believe all the cheering when it exploded. Weird. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I couldn’t believe all the cheering when it exploded. Weird. 

 

Well, most were there to be entertained.   It did make it over 4 minutes.  No lives were lost.

 

And, most important, it was in Texas.  As you said, weird.

[Cypress Sun]

Spacex described it as an rapid unscheduled disassembly. 

 

Fancy shmancy words for it blew up.

[Bo B. Fetterman]

Musk looked a bit un-amused, or possibly he's just not a morning person.

[Pat Riot]

Perhaps I am a bit old fashioned but having a bunch of effeminate bubbly commentators and crowds of cheering whateverthehell they are all going on while serious business is going on is quite flippin’ annoying and to me degrades the effort overall. 
 

There sure seems to be a lot of pomp and praise for the non-participants 

[Calamity Kris]

We used to call it a CRUD Catastrophic Rapid Unplanned Disassembly.  Only, they pulled the trigger, so to speak.  They couldn't risk it going off course and possibly heading back to land, or worse anywhere without guidance.  The tumble indicated it didn't have any guidance so they did what they had to do.  

 

All that being said, great launch.  They got it off the ground and that's what they were trying for.  Everything else was icing on the cake.

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 minutes ago, Calamity Kris said:

All that being said, great launch.  They got it off the ground and that's what they were trying for.  Everything else was icing on the cake.

 

Yep.   Now they analyze everything eight ways from Sunday and figure out how to do better next time.

[Subdeacon Joe]

NPR has a surprisingly good write up on it.

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/20/1170983959/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk

 

"Starship just experienced what we call a rapid, unscheduled disassembly," said John Insprucker, SpaceX's principal integration engineer. "As we said, excitement was guaranteed."

 

SpaceX staff still cheered as Starship went down in flames. Successfully lifting the 400-foot-tall rocket off the launch pad is still a big step forward to its ultimate goal of one day ferrying humans to the moon and Mars, SpaceX says.

 

"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn," the company said in a tweet. "Today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary."

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

“Starship gave us a rather spectacular end to what was a truly incredible test,” Insprucker said later.

[Subdeacon Joe]

3 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I couldn’t believe all the cheering when it exploded. Weird. 

 

I just watched it again.  There was a shocked and disappointed gasp or something, then the applause.  I think it's like when an athlete has to be carried off the field...there is applause for his effort and to show support.  I don't think it was a "Hooray! It exploded!" kind of thing.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

During my 40 years in aerospace I have seen a lot of failures. I knew that it was in trouble when they 7 engines (not 6 as was first reported) failed to ignite. I'm betting that this causes a loss of thrust and speed and the computer would not let the separation of the first stage happen. 

[Pat Riot]

45 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

I just watched it again.  There was a shocked and disappointed gasp or something, then the applause.  I think it's like when an athlete has to be carried off the field...there is applause for his effort and to show support.  I don't think it was a "Hooray! It exploded!" kind of thing.

I actually think many didn’t realize it blew up and thought it separated. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

How is the loss of a multibillion dollar vehicle "icing on the cake"? I found the happy commentary/spin disconcerting. Reminds me of Biden's press secretary.

 

I read an article last Friday where Musk was interviewed about this launch. It was apparent from his comments there was a very low expectation of success, but they were going to go ahead with it anyway to see what happens and then review the data. Seems like a really ass-backward expensive to way to do things. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

14 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I actually think many didn’t realize it blew up and thought it separated. 

 

Could be.  But that sort of gasp argues that many knew it was a catastrophic failure.

 

3 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

How is the loss of a multibillion dollar vehicle "icing on the cake"? I found the happy commentary/spin disconcerting. Reminds me of Biden's press secretary.

 

I read an article last Friday where Musk was interviewed about this launch. It was apparent from his comments there was a very low expectation of success, but they were going to go ahead with it anyway to see what happens and then review the data. Seems like a really ass-backward expensive to way to do things. 

 

How?  I think the primary goal was to get it to launch and clear the launch tower.  After that it was "Let's see what happens." A first attempt to see how close they were.  There comes a point where they just have to try and hope for the best.

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-first-space-launch-what-we-saw

[Calamity Kris]

7 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

How is the loss of a multibillion dollar vehicle "icing on the cake"? I found the happy commentary/spin disconcerting. Reminds me of Biden's press secretary.

 

I read an article last Friday where Musk was interviewed about this launch. It was apparent from his comments there was a very low expectation of success, but they were going to go ahead with it anyway to see what happens and then review the data. Seems like a really ass-backward expensive to way to do things. 

 

As has been stated before, even with this "failure", it gave them lots and lots of data to analyze.  That is where they will be gaining so much.  It will enable the engineers to analyze what caused the failure and need to abort the mission and use that to improve things for the next launch.  If they had not made the attempt to launch, they wouldn't have this valuable data.  Simulations can only go so far. 

 

The word I heard is about 5 months to analyze and fix the problems, then they will be ready to launch again.  Looking forward to it.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Sorry to disagree. To me, this is like a postmortem after having just killed the patient in an ill advised surgery. We’re talking billions of dollars gone in a flash, and billions more tomorrow and the next. It’s not something to celebrate. 
 

JMO; YMMV. 
 

 

[Badlands Bob #61228]

"Starship is a fully reusable transportation system"........ but only if it doesn't blow up.

[Subdeacon Joe]

3 minutes ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

"Starship is a fully reusable transportation system"........ but only if it doesn't blow up.

 

This first one, if I have it right, was not going to be recovered.   

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

4 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

This first one, if I have it right, was not going to be recovered.   

The main stage was supposed to be recovered/reusable from this flight. That was the whole point. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Just now, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

The main stage was supposed to be recovered/reusable from this flight. That was the whole point. 

 

Thanks.  I knew that the first stage wasn't going to be recovered.  I'd read conflicting articles about the second stage.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

4 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Thanks.  I knew that the first stage wasn't going to be recovered.  I'd read conflicting articles about the second stage.

Yup, it was supposed to return like the Dragon capsule boosters.  That was the purpose of the vehicle rotation, but it wouldn’t separate and they lost control. 

[Trailrider #896]

Neither the booster nor the  space ship were scheduled for recovery on this flight.  Getting the whole beast off the launch pad, having the umbilicals disconnect, the bird clearing the tower, were major milestones, and were successful. I suspect that the loss of thrust due to six (or seven) engines being out, probably kept the velocity being sufficient for the flight control computer to allow stage separation. Looking at the replay several times, I think the pitch-over was correct for the booster, had it separated.  Once it passed certain criteria, the Flight Termination System (FTS) automatically destroyed the vehicle.

It will take some time for SpaceX to analyze all the data, and determine what needs to be fixed, in addition to determining what changes need to be made to the launch platform, to minimize future damage to it, such as a flame diverter trench and increased water spray. 

 

As to billions of dollars being wasted, they weren't taxpayer's money.  

 

Back in the summer of 1961, I was an intern at Cape Canveral. I saw a number of early Atlas ICBM test vehicles destroy themselves at booster separation, as well as the first Minuteman silo launch end with the second stage igniiting with the bird half-way out of the hole!!  Ultimately, Atlas boosted six Mercury astronauts into orbit.  Minuteman I, II and III have proven qualified to the tasks for which they were designed...Strategic Deterrence.

 

SpaceX will ultimately be successful! Go SpaceX!

Ad Astra! (To the Stars)

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

From what I’ve read thru the years, there’s a lot of government money involved in that private funding. 

[Rip Snorter]

Per  the opinion of an expert in aerospace, most likely sabotage was the cause.

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

Some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:55 AM, Trailrider #896 said:

 I suspect that the loss of thrust due to six (or seven) engines being out, probably kept the velocity being sufficient for the flight control computer to allow stage separation. 

That is exactly what I said in my previous post.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

I always get a kick out it when the most scathing criticisms don't have a single constructive suggestion.  Any of you Monday Morning Quarterbacks have a good suggestion "how to fix it??"  Get offa da lawn!!