Three’s the Charm for Elon Musk’s Starship Launch

Thursday, March 14, 2024. This morning, as America began its morning commute, the most powerful rocket ever built is poised to hurtle skyward from Elon Musk’s Boca Chica, Texas, Starbase orbital launch platform. The integrated Starship launch system, Booster 10 and Starship 28, towers 400 feet above the launch platform. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration awarded SpaceX a 110-minute launch window beginning at 8 a.m. EDT, and, of course, SpaceX was already leaning forward. But alas. The weather could have cooperated a bit more — overcast and windshear delayed the countdown. Commercial ship and private boat traffic could have cooperated a bit more — downrange safety zone violations needed to be cleared. The minutes ticked away.

The flight director polled the various stations and verified a go for propellent load at T – 00:01:15, and the massive stainless steel wonder was poised in the chute — ready to race.

T – 00:00:53: Ship liquid oxygen (LOX) load initiated.

T – 00:00:51: Ship fuel (liquid methane) load underway.

T – 00:00:42: Booster LOX load initiated.

T – 00:00:41: Booster fuel load underway.

T – 00:00:30: SpaceX flight director verifies go for launch.

T – 00:00:10: Flame deflectors activated.

T – 00:00:03: Raptor ignition sequence begins. All of the massive booster’s 33 Raptor engines ignite. 

Finally, at 9:25 a.m. EDT, with only 25 minutes left in the launch window: Excitement is guaranteed.

T – 00:00:00: BLAST OFF.

There is absolutely nothing like it. A focused fireball of flame from 33 methyl lox Raptor engines lift the 400-foot integrated Starship launch vehicle. 

T + 00:00:52: Accelerating to over 1,200 miles per hour in less than a minute, the integrated Starship reaches MAX Q, the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket — and has to throttle down.

T + 00:02:42: Most Engines Cut Off (MECO).

T + 00:02:44: Hot-staging. The Starship upper stage vehicle’s six Raptor engines ignite, and the ship separates from the booster and reaches for Earth orbit.

More excitement guaranteed. 

T + 00:02:55: With the starship on its way, the booster initiates booster boostback burn.

T + 00:03:50: Booster-boostback-burn engine shutdown.

T + 00:06:30: Booster is transonic.

T + 00:06:46: Booster landing burn startup.

T + 00:07:04: The now-vertical booster shuts down all but 13 of its engines, using their gimble capabilities to steer the booster to its splashdown point. The plan was to then shut down all but three engines to simulate a return to the Boca Chica Spaceport launch/landing platform, to be captured by their unique “chopstick” arms. Although a glitch prevented the final three-engine descent, and the “soft landing” was “harder than optimal,” the booster did achieve its targeted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, 12 miles from Boca Chica Spaceport. Although SpaceX will not attempt recovery of the booster, the telemetry and data transmissions continued all the way down, providing valuable data to inform the next iteration, Flight 4.

Even more excitement guaranteed. 

While the booster splashes down, the Starship vehicle second stage skips across the upper boundaries of the Earth’s atmosphere under full power before cutting off engines to enter a coasting phase. While in coasting mode and 12 minutes into its maiden flight, ground control opens the upper stage’s payload door and successfully closes them 12 minutes later — an essential demonstration for future Starlink satellite deployments.  

Twenty-six minutes into the flight, the ship achieves an in-space transfer of propellant, another key demonstration of the flight to model a capability to move propellant from one tank within the vehicle to another. All while traveling 16,300 miles per hour and 128 miles above the Earth. 

At T + 49 minutes, Starship 28 successfully reenters the Earth’s atmosphere.

At T + 50 minutes, all telemetry is lost — and the ship is presumed to have broken up, prior to achieving a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.  

But still, the furthest and fastest a Starship has ever travelled. Wow.

This was only the third test flight of an integrated Starship. Flight 1 launched in April of last year — but the two stages failed to separate, tumbled back toward Earth, and self-destructed in a spectacular “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” or RUD, SpaceX-speech for “an exciting end to its mission” (it blew up). Excitement guaranteed. 

Flight 2 flew last November and saw the integrated Starship successfully launch and separate — but the booster exploded during its boostback burn. The second stage starship vehicle achieved an altitude of over 93 miles before a vent of excess LOX caused a fire that, again, resulted in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (it blew up). (RELATED: A Consequential Moment for Humanity in Time and Space)

And now — less than one year after its very first launch — SpaceX has successfully launched the integrated Starship, built on lessons learned from the previous two flights.

It’s a big deal. A very big deal.

Four additional Starships and four boosters are already standing in reserve. The next ship, Booster 11 and Starship 29, may be rolled out as soon as this coming weekend — with a June launch not out of the question.

The starship launch system is designed to be a fully reuseable two-stage heavy-lift vehicle capable of inserting 100 to 150 tonnes into low-Earth orbit when configured for cargo. Configured for personnel, it is designed to carry as many as 100 crew. After linking up in Earth orbit with a ship configured as a fueler, the ship can support lunar landings, manned lunar stations, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.

Excitement guaranteed.

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