When (first) orbital flight?First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. "The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship."
What's happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/"shower head" system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM?Musk tweeted on April 21: "3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch." Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.
According to Musk Sep 6, 2023 · 1:30 AM UTC, "Starship is ready to launch, awaiting FAA license approval".
But an Other Place comment from u/space_rocket_builder here was
Aiming for launch readiness as early as next week and the launch as early as start of mid September. FAA process expected “soon” but we could still be a few weeks away.
I think they've asserted themself to be a good source, but I am not sure.
Another comment (someone else) asserted that the propellant farm has not been loaded yet, and that takes a lot of trucks.
I think right after the last static fire, u/space_rocket_builder correctly predicted the number of engines that were lit up and ran correctly, before we got an official statement. So at least, there is that.
I agree with other people regarding Musk's statement about Starship readiness: he's probably trying to pressure the FAA into giving a launch license as soon as possible. But that doesn't mean SpaceX is actually ready to launch.