Starship Flight 8 Launch Thread (Take two!)
Starship Flight 8 Launch Thread (Take two!)
Well folks, it's time for the second launch of Starship version 2, as well as another booster RTLS and chopsticks catch attempt! Let's hope the ship fares better this time!
This follows a launch attempt earlier this week which was scrubbed due after a prolonged hold in the countdown while the teams worked multiple issues on the booster, ship, and GSE.
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-03-06 23:30 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2025-03-03 17:30 (CDT) |
| Launch Window (UTC) | 2025-03-03 23:30 to 2025-03-04 00:30 (60 minutes) |
| Launch site | Pad A, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. |
| Booster | B15 |
| Ship | S34 |
| Booster landing | Chopsticks catch at Pad A or soft water landing in Gulf of Mexico |
| Ship landing | Indian Ocean |
Webcasts
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQG053ogu20 |
| Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edUNsegCqQs |
| Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUnbnm7OKCw |
| NASASpaceflight | Stakeout stream, Launch stream |
| LabPadre | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yng6SV8yO0Y |
| The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rY9T2iLtfY |
| VideoFromSpace | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Z1ZUxxObs |
| SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1897438948458189156 |
| The Space Devs |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:
☑️ 2nd launch of Starship version 2
☑️ 2nd Starship Full Stack launch this year, 8th overall
☑️ 2nd launch from Pad A this year, 8th overall
☑️ 49 days, 0:53:00 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 28th SpaceX launch this year, 478th overall
Mission Details 🚀
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SpaceX website (current). Highlights:
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"flight will fly the same suborbital trajectory as previous missions and will target objectives not reached on the previous test"
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"Starship will deploy four Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites"
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Another in-space raptor relight is planned
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"A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle."
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"Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry."
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"non-structural versions of Starship’s catch fittings are installed to test the fittings’ thermal performance"
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"flight also includes the launch, return, and catch of the Super Heavy booster"
Link to Starship Dev thread
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I'm struggling to think of a reason that Starship shouldn't be grounded for 6-12 months after this (I know they won't be, but I'll be mad about it). This is a consecutive uncontrolled failure during the "easy" part of the flight over a highly populated region. It seems like pure luck that the RUD didn't happen early enough to impact land. They're still doing a great job, but today was rough.
Maybe it's time to rethink the Texas plans?
Edit: Upon reflection I'm less pessimistic now, as long as the FTS behaved reasonably. But I'll still be mad if they're flying again in a month.
Any particular reason coming to mind that the FAA won't ground it?
Elon is able to tell the FAA what to do now?
Elon bullied the head of the faa to the point that he quit and has since been let by trump and Republican traitors do whatever to take control