On Friday afternoon—after much angst and anxious waiting by the spaceflight community—the Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license to SpaceX for the launch of its Starship rocket from South Texas. “After a comprehensive license evaluation process, the FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integration and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement. “The license is valid for five years.”
Receiving this federal safety approval is the final regulatory step the company needed to take before being cleared to fly the largest rocket ever built. Now, the only constraints to launch are technical issues with the rocket or its ground systems. SpaceX is expected to hold a final readiness review this weekend before deciding to proceed with a launch attempt. This could occur as soon as Monday. The company has a slew of road closures, temporary flight restrictions, and notices to mariners set up for April 17. The launch window is expected to open at 7 am local time in Texas (12:00 UTC). Backup launch opportunities are available on Tuesday and Wednesday.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test
Comment: Should be quite a show. I’ll watch this one on TV or my laptop. I missed the first Moon landing because my friends and I would not forego a planned camping trip. We did take a transistor radio and listened to Walter Cronkite narrate the landing as we gazed through the pines at the near full Moon. I think it was a better experience than watching it on a grainy black and white TV.
TTG
Well crap. Here I am with third cup of coffee in hand and no launch.
Whitewall,
The decision to scrub for the day was made within an hour of the scheduled launch time, but they went through with the fueling and pressurization to the 40 second mark as a rehearsal. It will be at least 48 hours to the next try. Maybe Wednesday.
I think I would much prefer to have them recycle and try again on Wednesday/Thursday, than have the thing blow up on the pad.
It took off this morning, clearing the pad and getting to the point of booster separation, but failed to separate. The first flip was scheduled, but it kept flipping. At that point it looks like it was blown up by the ground crew. Just getting this far is considered a success.
This test to destruct method of rocket development has worked well for SpaceX. From this point on, it will be more expensive, but it will still save time. New big booster/starship rockets are already in place for the next test.
A report at 1733Z (blowup plus 3 hours)
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/so-what-was-that-was-starships-launch-a-failure-or-a-success/
From SpaceX:
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test
Somewhat off topic, but this may be of interest to some:
UFOs/IAP imaged by some military aircraft, per Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, 2023-04-19:
https://youtu.be/j6qTR_Lxe1Q
That was quite a hole the thrust plume gouged out under the pad! It looked like some of the debris thrown out was as large as a car. I would not be surprised if some of the engine failures on ascent were a direct result of damage from the launch. Hopefully the clean-up of the launch site won’t take too long.
I hope DoD isn’t too mesmerized by what is happening in Ukraine
to give this issue the attention it deserves:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/china-building-cyberweapons-to-hijack-enemy-satellites-says-us-leak/
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/chinas-push-hijack-enemy-satellites-game-over-us-national-security-expert-warns