Welcome to the /c/SpaceX Integrated Flight Test 2 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2023-11-18 13:00 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2023-11-18 07:00 (CST) |
| Launch Window (UTC) | 2023-11-18 13:00 to 2023-11-18 13:20 (20 minutes) |
| Weather | Good |
| Launch site | OLM-A, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. |
| Booster | B9 |
| Ship | S25 |
| Booster landing | B9 to perform a soft water landing in the Gulf of Mexico |
| Ship landing | S25 expected to impact Pacific Ocean near Hawaii |
Webcasts
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Everyday Astronaut (4k and low latency) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6na40SqzYnU |
| Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-LFzFWaACo |
| LabPadre | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwhcSwQWOHk |
| NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOI35G7cP7o |
| The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0K0uSDE6ks |
| Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XbmBspvaHE |
| SpaceX | https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1725852544587727145#m |
| The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CREQ3e2Li34 |
Stats
☑️ 2nd Starship Full Stack launch
☑️ 299th SpaceX launch all time
☑️ 86th SpaceX launch this year
☑️ 2nd launch from OLM-A this year
☑️ 211 days, 23:27:00 turnaround for this pad
Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship
Mission Details 🚀
- SpaceX website (archived 2023-11-16): Starship’s Second Flight Test (archived)
- SpaceX website (archived 2023-11-18): Starship’s Second Flight Test (archived)
- SpaceX website (archived 2023-11-22): Starship’s Second Flight Test (archived)
- SpaceX website (current): Starship’s Second Flight Test
Link to Starship Dev thread
This thread maybe? This thread definitely!
S25 and B9 are stacked and ready for a Saturday morning launch. The tank farm should start spooling up around 2 a.m. local time.
While we wait, Starlink 6-28 is currently scheduled for 2023-11-18 05:05 UTC. Webcast links in comment.
NSF are live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOI35G7cP7o
Fingers crossed the “not a deluge system cause I didn’t get a permit for one” works properly and the pad (and/or rocket) doesn’t get torn up again.
Booster RUD!
Ship still looking good!
Prediction time!
Stage Zero: Works with only minor damage. Booster Engine Failures: 5 :( Hot Staging: Works, looks cool. Upper Stage: Flies, with significant issues. FTS: Big boom, on time! End result: Booster re-enters in one piece, Ship in many.
I’d be surprised if they had that many booster engines fail. I suspect we’ll see only a couple of engines fail at most.
I’m less confident about the success of hot staging, since they’ve never tested it before. Excitement guaranteed though!
Totally! I don’t have an engineering reason to think they’ll fail, I’m just suspicious after the static fires couldn’t maintain 33. A hot staging failure would be MUCH more exciting.
Hmm, I am a bit more confident in the ships abilities (at least for anything between hot staging and SECO).
Anyways, if it gets to the point to initiate hot staging (regardless of the outcome) and the FTS works, it‘s a success. But we should also remember that SN9 landed (crashed) harder than SN8, and SN12 was way worse than the previous three tests. If stage zero is mostly unharmed, the FTS works, and the authorities are not too unhappy, SpaceX has already produced enough hardware for several tests to get it right within the next few months. A good test is a test where you learn a lot, and can try again soon.
Tim Dodd’s (Everyday Astronaut) stream is live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6na40SqzYnU
Jonathan McDowell trajectory analysis: https://nitter.net/planet4589/status/1725873032244195495#m
Based on the last altitude/velocity numbers on SpaceX’s webcast, I estimate a Starship achieved trajectory of -1740 x 150 km with (if not entirely destroyed by the flight termination system) impact NE of the Turks and Caicos Is.
MECO! (most engines cut-off)
Hot staging!
Those engines were beautiful
The combined mach diamonds were stunning!
Also super pleased to see the improved raptor reliability.
Awesome launch!
John Insprucker reports that the second stage may have been lost, likely triggered by AFTS.
SpaceX webcast ending now.
Ahhh so close to SECO!
Getting through hot staging and that much of the 2nd stage burn was huge, though. On to IFT-3.
Did they not get to SECO? It’s not clear whether S25 was lost before, after, or during SECO.
My understanding was that the engines shut down before the expected SECO time.
Police at the roadblock.
Wow, my skepticism about the engines was silly. There were a few moments during first stage where it I couldn’t tell whether the exhaust was nominal, but may be nothing.
Looks like there’s some minor debris on the road near LabPadre’s camera, but certainly no concrete storm!
Why weren’t there any onboard cameras during the Livestream?
SECO?
Awaiting acquisition of signal from Starship…
