Starship IFT2 approved for launch

[Startrek]

Space X has received FAA approval to launch its second integrated flight test of Starship.
Friday 17th November has been penciled in for launch ( Saturday Aus EDT )
Over 1000 changes / upgrades have been made since the inaugural test flight back in April this year.
It should be a hell of a show , hopefully the booster pushes Starship to a nominal sub orbital flight path.
Total thrust after Max Q should reach beyond 17million pounds ( more than twice the power of Saturn 5 )
I’ll be glued to the TV to watch the launch.
Musk has yet to predict a percentage of success. He normally says 50/50 to play it safe.
Enjoy the show if you’re interested in watching the most powerful rocket ever launched.

[Andy01]

So, Midnight Saturday? Many thanks for the heads-up - it should be a great show. I was lucky enough to witness two separate rocket launches from the cape in Dec 2019 - an incredible experience ticked off the bucket list! :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Andy,
My wife and I spent 4 days at KSC in July 2018 after touring across Canada for a month. Unfortunately no launches occurred during our visit.
Back then Space X only had a few small hangars as the tour bus drove past them.Fast forward 5 years and look at “Starbase” in Boca Chica Texas , a veritable Space City and gateway to the Universe , insane development. Soon the Cape will be capable of launching Starships as well.

Starship Launch schedule ( Australian EDT )
Date 18th November 2023
Launch window opens at midday 12.00
Launch window duration 2 hours
Subject to change

Cheers
Martin

[astronobob]

Been a long wait, apparently not going for any vertical landings into the water either booster or ship, though a safe launch and hot-stage-separation be a big win !!

Here a Link to the countdown and should start to ' Live-Feed and hr or something before the Launch, mind you it could easily be scrubbed, but see what happens,,, :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0preOnsuo4&ab_channel=TheLaunchPad

[Startrek]

Bob,
Couldn’t open your YouTube link ?

Here’s the link direct to Space X Starship launch

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-2

Launch now pushed back to midnight Saturday night Australia EDT with 20min launch window which is narrow ( a potential scrub with such a tight window but hopefully they get this monster off the pad )

Cheers
Martin

[Andy01]

Starship has been destacked to replace a grid fin actuator; launch now targeting Saturday with a 20-minute window opening at 7:00 a.m. US Central time

[astronobob]

Working my end Martin, opens the same page as your link, :shrug:
-------------------
------
Hmm, Replacing a steering actuator - a type of Scrub on Launch, another day's wait, Im cool with that :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Stayed up and watched the live launch of Starship with the booster performing perfectly to push Starship to staging altitude. What a sight !!
Hot staging and separation performed well but 30 seconds later booster started losing engines after the flip manoeuvre and exploded.
Starship continued on its way to orbital altitude and a few minutes later it too exploded.
Space X have a loads of data on this flight to evaluate before the 3rd flight.
That booster looked incredible with all 33 raptor engines performing flawlessly
The orbital launch stand and water deluge system apparently held up ok under the immense power.
Looking forward to the 3rd flight , hopefully they get Starship to orbit.

[Andy01]

+1 - That was an epic sight, can you imagine seeing that launch in person? Wowee, we live in exciting times :D

[alpal]

It's a bit of a worry that they keep having to blow their rockets up.
An expert on TV said it's part of the learning curve.

[Startrek]

Im not sure if the boosters self destruct system was activated from the ground or internally ? , but in any case it’s an FAA requirement for the launch licence.
I think they’re still waiting on data on why Starship blew up at orbital altitude and near orbital velocity.

The Starship is still in initial test mode , just like Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 was 12 to 15 years ago , numerous Falcons blew up before they nailed the design , engineering and testing until 99.99999% safe.

I reckon it will take another couple of attempts to achieve orbit and Non reusable recovery.

[Zubenel]

Scott Manley does an explanation here . Really interesting.
https://youtu.be/hF2C7xE9Mj4?si=Ir1HjCCWx0lRtH_8