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SpaceX are hopefully flight testing Starship on Monday with the launch window opening at 13:00 BST.
(Alternative days are Tuesday and Wednesday)
Could be a big anti-climax but then could also see the launch of the biggest rocket ever to lift off or maybe some massive fireworks.
Either way it should be AMAZING!
It will be streamed live on YouTube and will be easy to find.
Its been way too long since the last Starship launch.
Just posting in the hope I remember to watch the launch 🙂
Plus one
Did it need is own thread? Grumble Grumble.
Excellent news though! I hope it goes well, but as Elon said, I can't guarantee success, I can guarantee excitement!
Lots of details on what we hope will happen released by spacex and explained by Marcus House here
Did it need is own thread?
Absolutely, because not every interested person will be looking at the other thread.
[You] Grumpy old man 😉
Grumble grumble
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test
Live stream. Count down to 1215 Monday. Boca chica is what? Gmt +6 isn't it?
-6. E.g. currently it's 2.10 here in UK and 16.10 in Boca Chica. So 1215 on Monday will be 1815 here.
D'oh! Yes, minus not plus! Let's hope spacex engineers haven't made a silly mistake in their maths!
So 1215 on Monday will be 1815 here.
I don't know where you're getting your times from, but the window opens at 7am local time which is 1pm here!
The 150-minute launch window opens Monday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT; 7 a.m. local Texas time). You can watch the liftoff live here at Space.com when the time comes, courtesy of SpaceX.
The spacex live stream page says 'live in 28 hours, 1215 April 17'
That's just the live stream looking a a rocket not doing anything.
It's the launch window that's more important..... Unless you've got nothing better to do obvs 😉
SpaceX is targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas. The 150-minute test window will open at 7:00 a.m. CT.
......
A live webcast of the flight test will begin ~45 minutes before liftoff.
(From the SpaceX web site)
Central time is 6 hours behind us so the launch window opens at 1pm here.
Ah, so the 1215 time at the live stream is viewer local time.
It's our time...... not Californian or Texan
“If we get far enough away from launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the pad.”
Excellent!!
(Apparently the pad has cost SpaceX a lot of money)
I should be able to watch the launch attempt live if it is delayed by an hour.
8 minutes to go.
I can't decide if I want it to explode or launch. The adult in me wants it to launch, the child to explode.
Launch in 1hr 10 mins 🥳🥳🥳
T had slipped to -2.15.12 that equals t0 ar 1529 by the look
Ops no my mistake, that's the window count! Still t - 1.03.31
Ahh. It counted down to 2 minutes, then stopped.
Ooooo, started ch4 load.
The SpaceX website is showing nothing at the moment. I have the nasa space flight YouTube channel on in the background.
I'm on a different feed called, the launch pad. The view is from 5 miles away and via a 500mm lens, less good than the above stream but with a young guy giving a decent commentary.
According to that,
Village evacuated check
Road closed check
Pad clear check
Go/no go poll check
Booster propellant load start check
Ship lox load start check
Ship ch4 load start check
Verbally he says next big event is a big vent in about half hour
Next written milestone is raptor chill
Then vent sequence
Ignition start
Guaranteed excitement!
Spacex commentary seconds away apparently
Bejeezuz! Commentator at 5 miles away just said an n1 rocket killed over 200 people further away than he is, and starship is twice the size.
Spacex commentary live
Got SpaceX and NSF streams (both muted at the moment).
SpaceX seems to have far more angles and up close imagery.
WTAF Douglas Adams was right B ark a go go !
the cringe factor is off the charts
SpaceX seems to have far more angles and up close imagery.
That's the one I'm going for...... probably better cameras and commentary
As an aside, I love the phrase "rapid unscheduled disassembly" as a euphemism for "yes, it crashed spectacularly in a ball of flame"
Not sounding quote as positive to today's launch right now - "pressurisation issue"
And . . . still a boat in the restricted area
Uh oh.... May be a pressurisation issue
🤞
Scrubbed 🙁
Rats..... No launch today
Wet dress rehearsal instead ☹️
Rubbish. Can't they just blow it up for the lol's?
Balls, they called it off. I love the expression 'sudden unplanned disassembly' as a landing option! That would be a big bang!
Rats….. No launch today
Apparently not enough people bought rocket plushies.
And that’s a scrub 🤪
Wednesday earliest 😫
The BBC feed is reporting it is a wet dress rehearsal
Does seem odd to wait another 48hrs just to blow it up anyway
Scrubbed at T-40 seconds... left it close. Sounds like they could try again in a couple of days.
Well for a big nonevent that was quite exciting.
They knew with around 10mins to go that it wasn't happening, taking the clock right down was part of the dress rehearsal. Odd that it was stopped at 40s though (i switched off with 5mins to go) as they said it'd be taken down to 10.
So is 'a pressurisation issue' the same as 'a leak'?
Nah, sticky (frozen) valve by the sound of it
The BBC feed is reporting it is a wet dress rehearsal
...is that like when you have no girlfriend but are busily preparing - just in case!?
The BBC feed is reporting it is a wet dress rehearsal
…is that like when you have no girlfriend but are busily preparing – just in case!?
I was thinking it was more like when you have a new girlfriend but you empty the tanks before the main event, so the explosion doesn't happen too early.
Odd that it was stopped at 40s though (i switched off with 5mins to go) as they said it’d be taken down to 10.
Apparently T-40s is a common place to halt the countdown if there's still fuel to be loaded or something needs sorting.
They probably restarted it at some point after the streams had finished and went to T-10s which would have taken everything up to the point of lighting engines - we just didn't see it.
The launch window will open again today at 2:28pm UK time, fingers crossed they get it off the ground this time.
fingers crossed they get it off the ground this time.
Though "how far off the ground" is the big question! Looking forward to a decent distraction from an afternoon of Teams calls.
T-25min
Same link?
yep
Getting exciting now...
Come on!
Just turned on. Any idea why they are holding?
Pause in the countdown
Grrrr!
Go!
There's a microlight very close to the launch site
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a0c62c
Holy moly
man, that was a slow lift off, but they made it!
This is bonkers
Boom
This definitely going to be a big bang
Booom!
Who had 3:59 in the sweepstake?
Kaboomba.
RUD
'Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly'
LOL!
Ooooh they're an excitable bunch aren't they! 🙂