Starship's Third Flight Test [video]

The test is essentially a success at this point. Starship can take payload to orbit and open/close the payload doors. The remaining things are icing on the cake. They can refine re-usability while flying payloads.

T+37: Seems a little turny-aroundy in orbit there<p>and a bit &quot;small-pieces-falling-offy&quot;<p>Still, good job getting it there<p>T+43: seems to be turning around a bit too much for something thats got heat shields on one side and is about to re-enter<p>T+45: flaps moved, maybe that is supposed to get it the right way round, I get it now - it uses the flaps to orient for re-entry<p>T+46: the little bits of debris must be tiles coming off<p>T+46: flap glowing red, can see plasma (edit: spacex tweeted a video of this bit, its quite something <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;SpaceX&#x2F;status&#x2F;1768279990368612354" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;SpaceX&#x2F;status&#x2F;1768279990368612354</a> note the camera position moves because the camera is on one of the forward flaps)<p>T+47: &quot;biggest flying object ever in space&quot; uh-oh<p>T+47: serious re-entry flames<p>T+48: loss of signal<p>T+54: still no signal<p>T+62: saying they lost signal via starlink and TDRS at same time so maybe that was the end of it<p>T+65: confirmed lost during re-entry<p>T+67: the presenters all eat a large pie. each.

those plasma views when starship was coming into atmosphere were absolutely mind blowing.<p>it makes a lot of sense to use starlink for this, but it never ever crossed my mind.

I was just watching Spacex official stream and at ignition they switched to Musk hawking cryptocurrency. What just happened??<p>edit: wild I just realized take off is 50 minutes from now... what had I been watching?? they did a countdown and there was ignition... was that a time wrap? Am I going insane?<p>edit2: @spacex034 is not @spacex... today I learned...

Looked very impressive and there is enormous progress compared to the earlier tests. Especially as all engines seemed to work throughout the entire launch, the earlier tests had significant engine troubles so they seem to have a handle on that now.<p>The reentry burn failing doesn&#x27;t seem like a huge deal in this case, especially as the engines worked very well earlier.

It&#x27;s in orbit!<p>(<i>&quot;...and we have a callout for nominal orbit insertion...&quot;</i>)<p>edit: Not actually in orbit! This is a suborbital flight. Mea culpa

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;SpaceX_Starship_integrated_flight_test_3" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;SpaceX_Starship_integrated_fli...</a><p>Mission summary including timestamps

FR24 shows a Dassault Falcon 900EX doing circles around the expected Starship re-entry location (Perth to Perth flight plan):<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flightradar24.com&#x2F;MXJ&#x2F;345b8f09" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.flightradar24.com&#x2F;MXJ&#x2F;345b8f09</a>

Hahah, the elevator music while they wait for reentry...

When: 8:25 AM CT<p>Launch window: 7:00 AM CT - 8:50 AM CT<p>--- Updates:<p>(future)T+40: Starship relight and entry<p>T+12: Elevator music engaged, please stay tuned for T+40<p>T+11: Payload door testing<p>T+8: Upper stage SECO, nominal orbit insertion<p>T+7: (mine) KSP moment for booster reentry, instabilities. Signal cut off because of exhaust conducts electricity and absorbs RF. Status unknown<p>T-11: Still no blockers. Watching winds, may have hold at T-40s.<p>T-30: Broadcast started<p>T-60: (SpaceX Twitter) The Starship team is go for prop load but keeping an eye on winds, now targeting 8:25 a.m. CT for liftoff<p>T-65: (SpaceX Twitter) Shifting T-0 a few more minutes to give boats time to clear the keep out area, now targeting 8:10 a.m. CT<p>T-65: (SpaceX Twitter) New liftoff time is 8:02 a.m. CT, team is clearing a few boats from the keep out area in the Gulf of Mexico<p>T-45: No blockers<p>T-90: (SpaceX Twitter) Weather is 70% favorable for today’s third integrated flight test of Starship. The live webcast will begin ~30 minutes before liftoff<p>---- Streams:<p>High Quality VLC: Open VLC, Media, Open Network Stream, paste following, Play:<p>(higher quality) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;prod-ec-us-west-2.video.pscp.tv&#x2F;Transcoding&#x2F;v1&#x2F;hls&#x2F;gBsfBOvU8UeoyLWWRQ5LJLWU4mw5670V1iMlhQAd0Z1rxjEygWsrVEzkhce3HlPa_E9bydVTZ05_nlB72qGyPg&#x2F;transcode&#x2F;us-west-2&#x2F;periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-west-2-public&#x2F;eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4&#x2F;dynamic_highlatency.m3u8?type=live" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;prod-ec-us-west-2.video.pscp.tv&#x2F;Transcoding&#x2F;v1&#x2F;hls&#x2F;g...</a><p>(lower latency) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;prod-ec-us-west-2.video.pscp.tv&#x2F;Transcoding&#x2F;v1&#x2F;hls&#x2F;gBsfBOvU8UeoyLWWRQ5LJLWU4mw5670V1iMlhQAd0Z1rxjEygWsrVEzkhce3HlPa_E9bydVTZ05_nlB72qGyPg&#x2F;transcode&#x2F;us-west-2&#x2F;periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-west-2-public&#x2F;eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4&#x2F;dynamic_lowlatency.m3u8?type=live" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;prod-ec-us-west-2.video.pscp.tv&#x2F;Transcoding&#x2F;v1&#x2F;hls&#x2F;g...</a><p>NASASpaceflight: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=RrxCYzixV3s" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=RrxCYzixV3s</a><p>Spaceflight Now: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=EfnkZFtHPmM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=EfnkZFtHPmM</a><p>Everyday Astronaut: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ixZpBOxMopc" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ixZpBOxMopc</a><p>LabPadre Space: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=LMyXho_YCK8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=LMyXho_YCK8</a><p>(FR) Techniques Spatiales: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=BRXfWLVMEQ8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=BRXfWLVMEQ8</a><p>---- Mission profile:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spacex.com&#x2F;launches&#x2F;mission&#x2F;?missionId=starship-flight-3" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spacex.com&#x2F;launches&#x2F;mission&#x2F;?missionId=starship-...</a><p>---- Links:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;SpaceX" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;SpaceX</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;elonmusk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;elonmusk</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;spacex&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1bb8scf&#x2F;rspacex_integrated_flight_test_3_official_launch&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;spacex&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1bb8scf&#x2F;rspacex_int...</a>

The nasaspaceflight streams are pretty good too. I like their commentary.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;live&#x2F;RrxCYzixV3s?si=1MFBk8yzD3VcRdWk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;live&#x2F;RrxCYzixV3s?si=1MFBk8yzD3VcRdWk</a>

1000 km&#x2F;h booster impact at sea, call that a &quot;soft landing&#x2F;splash down&quot;. Poor fishies :)

Going for fueling, launch scheduled with 25min left in the window (getting tight) (8:35CT). Watching wind speed.

That re-entry video was quite amazing and beautiful.

Very excited for this as usual, and thanks to a few delays, I won’t be on the train at T-0.<p>As for expectations, I’ll be thrilled to see Starship reach orbital velocity. Last time was so close. Engine restart and intact reentry? Even better but maybe more of a stretch? Fears? Only that it doesn’t do as well as IFT-2. And that’s always a possibility.

What an amazing effort. Best of luck to team SpaceX. I really hope both ships survive all the way to the ocean this time.

I was surprised that during the initial ascent footage from the fin-cam, you can see that the grid fins are out. Do they not fold back on ascent? Or possibly drag on one side to arc over? Just seems weird to have your “drag device” deployed during ascent.

Mind-blowing stuff. Breathtaking to be honest. Live video is such high quality. Sci Fi made real.<p>Looks like Starship lost but so much farther than before. This is incredibly exciting stuff.

For an uninformed person like myself - what&#x27;s the expectation for this launch? Is it expected to explode like the last two?

Unfortunate that it was lost on re-entry. Super glad most of the mission was a success.

It got much farther than IFT-2, and exposed new problems, which is the purpose of a test flight. This seems like a success.<p>Things will only be bad if some problem is exposed that doesn&#x27;t look solvable.

Beautiful flight so far!

Did anyone notice at around T+30:16 the cargo door was almost shut when it looked like it popped out of place. Then the view suddenly switched to an external camera.<p>Am I wrong?

The elevator music during this next 30 minutes in orbit! lol<p>Flawless launch.

Man this has me crying like a baby. I do not know why.

It&#x27;s flying! And all engines are burning, it&#x27;s pretty damn impressive to see this thing lift off.

Starship has reached orbit!

Breathtaking stream.

So FAA cleared SpaceX and then within a few days they completed their launch pretty successfully by all accounts. So does that mean SpaceX could have launched a while back with no issues and were just waiting on the FAA? Did the FAA literally just slow down progress?<p>Not a good look on the FAA, they should just let SpaceX do what it does at the speed they want. If they cannot add any value to this engagement, the least they can do is to not subtract value.

Anyone have a non youtube link please?