Posted on 03/14/2024 12:02:29 AM PDT by linMcHlp
March 14 Starship • Orbital Flight Test 3 (OFT-3)
Launch time: 7:00 a.m. CDT (8:00 a.m. EDT, 1200 UTC) for 110-min. window
Launch site: Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas A SpaceX Super Heavy booster and Starship vehicle will make a third fully-integrated test flight during a 110-minute launch window.
The plan is for the Starship to achieve near-orbital before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
The Super Heavy booster will target a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
That was a lot of progress. Also looking forward to test 4.
I think they have proven they can get heavy satellites into orbit. The clients don’t care what happens after that.
Excellent test!!! It was also really nice to watch the launch with my dad who worked Mission Control for longer than anyone. I grew up watching launches, and when he was on shift, seeing him on NASA TV. He’s fading, so this was bitter sweet, but he enjoyed it.
I think they have proven they can get heavy satellites into orbit.
—
Its heavy ships to orbit; satellites are not the object of these tests. Single largest object ever put into space by man.
The goal is to have rapid reuse and launch of 3 or more per day. To fulfill its obligation to NASA for the Artemis project, and to deliver million of tons of stuff to Mars to set up a permanent manned base there.
Apart from the one NASA contract and perhaps the Space Force, the only client for Starship is Space X
Yes, I had to step out for quite a bit. When I got back in I saw your post, etc. It’s still good progress! :-)
I wonder how this launch would rant on a scale of loudest man-made noises, averaged over the 1st minute or the 1st ten seconds? Or compared to non-explosions (although this is sort of a controlled explosion...)
SpaceX political-correctness:
“RUD” - Rapid Unexpected Disassembly - actual: Self-Destruct
- - -
Re-Entry with heat glow:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JX1LTw48ymQ
That's not the threat. Any influence from that is 1B away if not 4B away. Musk himself has said, the extinction event capacity is two-fold : one, we do it to ourselves, or two, an NEO asteroid slips through our observation fence and destroys most of the carbon-based above-ground cohort with only 1 year lead time of warning.
The double irony is that Musk knows that currently, the only possible way to neutralize the latter scenario, would be his Starship loaded with a specific nuclear charge to force the asteroid .002 off course, given sufficient lead time to produce the nuke and get Starship to the killer, while the course management is still available.
Scientists were worried about asteroid Apophis having a near-miss in 2029, then 2036, then 2068. Now looks like plenty of time for Starship to deal with Apophis, latest estimate is that it might collide with Earth in a century. Humanity will be ready... unless Biden destroys civilization during the current year.
Well said, thank you for the response. I agree.
Bless you and your. Glad both of you could see the event together.
SpaceX is targeting as early as Friday, March 15 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 6:39 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 10:39 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Saturday, March 16 starting at 6:13 p.m. ET.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-6-44
This is the 19th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8, and 11 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Re 2nd Launch - November 18, 2023
SpaceX's epic Starship liftoff didn't damage launch pad, Elon Musk says
SpaceX's Starship launch pad appears to have passed its second trial by fire.
The pad, at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, took a beating on April 20, during the first-ever test flight of a fully stacked Starship vehicle. The huge rocket's 33 first-stage Raptor engines blasted out a big crater beneath the pad that day, sending chunks of concrete and other debris high into the Texas sky.
SpaceX installed a water-spewing steel plate beneath the pad in the aftermath of the debut flight, to prevent such damage from happening again. The new plate was tested on Saturday (Nov. 18), when Starship lifted off for the second time ever — and it did its job well, according to company founder and CEO Elon Musk.
"Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch. Congrats to @SpaceX team & contractors for engineering & building such a robust system so rapidly!" Musk said on Sunday (Nov. 19) in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
CORRECTION
Starlink 6-43, 25th Falcon 9 launch, March 15, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7u_gneiao
Starlink 6-43, 25th Falcon 9 launch, March 15, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7u_gneiao
Stage 1 landing aboard ship - beginning with moment before “Stage 1 trans-sonic” (left portion of YouTube video window): 1:07:59 / 1:29:32
Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
https://www.space.com/starlink-satellite-train-how-to-see-and-track-it
Starlink Constellation Map
https://satellitemap.space/?constellation=starlink
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