The Starship SN8 test flight is scheduled for 4:30PM CST:
The Starship SN8 test flight is scheduled for 4:30PM CST:
Dang it, the launch was aborted at T -01.3 seconds. There was an issue with the Raptor engine and it shut down before it fired up.
I went outside to try and catch it and froze my ass.
So close. Man, that was exciting.
Also, LOL at the poor Florida boy having to endure 55F temperatures in December.
But it's a wet cold.
I was hoping to see this thing succeed.
It didn't really fail. Just something wasn't right. It'll try again.
Poor choice of words. I was hoping to see this succeed *today*.
What they are attempting is exceedingly hard and failures should be expected. It will certainly be fun to watch whatever happens.
Keith Tanner said:Also, LOL at the poor Florida boy having to endure 55F temperatures in December.
But it FELT like 53!!! Luckily tomorrow will be warmer.
I am so happy that SpaceX stopped it with even the smallest problem ,
Thats what NASA did wrong too many times , thinking they really have a deadline,
I don't think SpaceX has ever shown any signs of go fever, honestly. And this would have been aborted by the computers, not a person. Something wasn't right on engine start. If it's like the Merlins, I believe that the vehicle is fully automated starting at T-60.
Meanwhile the high today was 37 degrees and it was a sunny day here
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:Meanwhile the high today was 37 degrees and it was a sunny day here
I call BS on that. Thermometers don't go below 50 degrees.
For those in Florida trying to watch a Starship launch don't bother going outside, they launch these from Boca Chica, Tx on the opposite side of the Gulf. At some point they will probably start launching these from the Cape I'm guessing but that is a long ways away. This flight is supposed to be 12.5 km up and then return to the luacnh site.
That's an excellent point, they're all just on "the internet" for me.
They're moving towards another attempt today. I believe the roads are closed and the flight restrictions are in effect.
Live from Mars...
Next SpaceX launch from Florida is 12/11 sometime between 1120 and 1320.
That is one cool looking rocket. Is that the one they are planning to take to Mars? How does it compare to the Saturn V?
The space station does not want COVID so they aborted the launch.
That is basically the Mars prototype. What you're looking at is the part that will land on Mars - if we're comparing to Apollo, this is the lunar lander. It's massively larger, though - that thing is something like 50m (165') tall. It has a cargo capacity roughly equivalent to the volume of the International Space Station.
The Saturn V was the rocket that sent the lander to the moon, what will fire this thing off will be something called Super Heavy that is currently under construction. The whole stack will be roughly 400' high. The current rocket being tested is the bit sitting on the top of Starship.
Note that not all of the rockets in this chart have flown and some never will. Energia flew (successfully) once and is retired. Falcon Heavy is operational and is scheduled to fly at least 3 times in 2021 if memory serves. Yenisei is maybe sometime near the end of the decade. Same with Long March. SLS Block 1 is under construction and has experienced significant delays. N1 is best known for exploding and will not try again. Saturn V we all know. SLS Block 2 is currently a set of drawings.
One of the big differences between this and any other is that it's intended to be fully reusable. SpaceX can land the three boosters in Falcon Heavy and use them again, but the second stage is thrown away. Saturn V threw away everything, the only part that returned to earth was the little conical command module and it was single-use. The Super Heavy booster that makes up the bottom part of Starship will land and will fly again. The upper part will do the same. The brings the estimated launch cost way, way down. Saturn V launches cost around $1.23 billion in current dollars. SLS is a little fuzzy but it's somewhere around $500 million to $2 billion depending on how you do the math. Starship is expected to be a few million because you're basically only paying for gas.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:Meanwhile the high today was 37 degrees and it was a sunny day here
Yeah, but it's a dry heat.
bentwrench said:The space station does not want COVID so they aborted the launch.
It would surprise everyone involved if Starship showed up at the ISS this week :)
FYI, it's looking like we can expect another attempt at around 1:30 Central today.
I guess this never happened?
I had a feeling it was out of Tx, went outside just in case yesterday.
If by "never happened" you mean "is in the process of happening but has not happened yet", yes. It's a prototype flight, they don't have an instantaneous window to hit like with an ISS resupply. It'll fly when it's ready to fly. Right now, they're working through pre-launch procedures. Looks like they're currently loading the propellant which is a good step.
In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :
It looks like they are going to make another attempt today. Here is the livestream:
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