SpaceX Starship launch from Texas: Here's everything you need to know
---
Update (9:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, April 20): After clearing the pad and appearing to take off successfully from Starbase, the vehicle's Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage failed to separate as planned. Just after three-and-a-half minutes into flight, the combined stack appeared to break apart and crash into the Gulf of Mexico. Five of 33 Raptor engines were also lost early in the flight.
SpaceX considers this mission mostly a success – though the booster and Starship did not get to attempt soft water landings in the Gulf and Pacific Ocean, respectively, teams were at least hoping to clear the pad and gather data.
---
All eyes are on the southernmost tip of Texas, where SpaceX is gearing up to launch its massive Starship system on the first orbital flight from its production and operations facility called Starbase.
If everything goes according to plan, the test set for early Thursday, April 20, will mark the first time the Super Heavy booster below and Starship vehicle on top take flight as a combined system. SpaceX teams were forced to stand down from the first attempt Monday, April 17, because of a frozen valve on the first-stage booster.
Assuming technicians can isolate and fix the issue, the next opportunity to fly is expected during a 62-minute window that opens at 9:28 a.m. EDT, or 8:28 a.m. local time in Texas. Look for FLORIDA TODAY's live coverage to begin 90 minutes before liftoff at https://www.floridatoday.com/space/.
Here's everything you need to know before liftoff:
What's the plan for Starship's test flight?
After liftoff from Starbase, Starship and Super Heavy will fly east over the Gulf of Mexico.
Once the booster's job is done, it will separate and attempt a soft landing in the waters of the Gulf.
Starship will continue on through the Straits of Florida, perform nearly one orbit, and, to ensure public safety, end in the Pacific Ocean with a controlled water landing of its own.
There is no customer payload flying on this demonstration mission.
What is Starship?
Starship is SpaceX's version of a next-generation launch system designed to take humans, cargo, and payloads to Earth orbit, the moon, and Mars.
It's been likened to something out of science fiction thanks to its reflective, stainless steel outer shell.
The vehicle comes in two parts: Super Heavy, a massive booster outfitted with 33 Raptor engines that will lift Starship, a 164-foot-tall spacecraft that can transport humans and cargo beyond low-Earth orbit. It produces more thrust than the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era and NASA's current Space Launch System.
To date, SpaceX is estimated to have spent at least several billion dollars on the Starship program.
SpaceX introduces Starship: Details of next-generation launch system and plans to fly to the moon revealed in 2019
Here's what we learned in 2019: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provides Starship from Texas
Musk's 2022 Starship update: SpaceX's Starship program has roots on the Space Coast, despite primary development in Texas
Why is Starship important?
Musk's reason for Starship and Super Heavy hinges on his belief that humanity needs to become a multi-planetary, space-faring species sooner rather than later.
Musk sees Starship as the vehicle that will help SpaceX fulfill its vision of putting human boots on Mars. He ultimately wants hundreds of people traveling to the red planet in each Starship.
NASA last year awarded SpaceX $2.9 billion specifically for Starship, which is envisioned as the lunar lander for the agency's Artemis program. If that architecture works out, it will take the next set of American astronauts from lunar orbit down to the surface of the moon during the Artemis III mission. The astronauts will use NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule to reach lunar orbit before docking with Starship, which will be waiting for them.
"As part of (the original) contract, SpaceX will also conduct an uncrewed demonstration mission to the moon prior to Artemis III," NASA said late last year when it awarded a second contract to SpaceX for Starship development worth $1.15 billion.
So far, the rocket has only made short sub-orbital test flights. An orbital flight is a major step toward preparing for that moon mission which is expected sometime before 2030.
And Starship's orbital test flight means business for Florida, too: if all goes well with the orbital flight test and the program overall, SpaceX plans on launching Starship from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in the coming years. Missions with Starlink satellites, science payloads, and flights with crews destined for the moon and Mars are all in the planning phase.
Has Starship launched before?
Previous test flights, which often ended explosively, only featured the Starship vehicle itself, but this time the combined 400-foot vehicle is launching from Texas.
SpaceX began building the first stainless steel prototype of Starship, known as "Starhopper," in Texas, where it successfully launched on a minute-long, low-altitude test flight known as a "hop" in August 2019. A series of suborbital test flights were designed to stress systems and components to inform the production of larger prototypes.
In December 2020, the much larger Starship Serial Number 8 prototype was the first to successfully launch from Starbase. After liftoff, it sailed to a high-altitude, suborbital apogee and appeared to hover momentarily. Then, it turned around for a "belly flop" descent back to Earth. Though it exploded just short of its landing pad, all of SpaceX's core test objectives for that flight were achieved.
Pressure Test: SpaceX Starship prototype sent flying after failed test in Texas
SN8 high-altitude test: SpaceX Starship launches on successful flight from Texas before exploding on landing
In February 2021, the Starship Serial Number 9 prototype took flight. The 165-foot vehicle launched on a brief test and automatically throttled down its Raptor engines at about 33,000 feet. It then performed the "belly flop" using adjustable fins to establish a trajectory back toward the launch site. Though the test achieved SpaceX's primary objective, SN9 failed to fully flip from "belly-down" to an upright position, causing it to explode on impact.
SpaceX's third high-altitude Starship flight in March 2021 saw Starship Serial Number 10 successfully complete all objectives and execute the first landing of the next-generation vehicle. But minutes after sticking the landing, the spacecraft unexpectedly exploded.
Starship Serial Number 15 was the first to launch, land, and remain intact. In May 2021, SN15 took off from a concrete pad and ascended to an altitude of 10 kilometers, or 33,000 feet, before using its "body" as an airbrake to descend back to the launch site. Just before touchdown, it rapidly flipped around and gently landed under the power of two Raptor engines – a first for the program.
SN9 & the second test flight: SpaceX launches Starship SN9, explodes on impact
Starship SN10 nails landing: The third test flight was a success, then Starship blew up
A first for the Starhip program: SpaceX launched the Starship SN15 prototype, finally stuck a landing, and it didn't blow up
How to watch the SpaceX Starship launch
SpaceX is currently targeting no earlier than 9:28 a.m. ET Thursday, April 20, for Starship and Super Heavy’s debut liftoff during a 62-minute launch window.
Though SpaceX is perhaps most well-known for landing its Falcon 9 boosters on land and drone ships, Starship and Super Heavy will be doomed to a watery grave for this mission. SpaceX will not attempt to recover any parts of the spacecraft. Look for FLORIDA TODAY's live coverage to begin 90 minutes before liftoff at https://www.floridatoday.com/space/.
Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on Twitter at @AlteredJamie.
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @EmreKelly.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX Starship Texas launch: Everything you need to know
