# Starship development and progress \[previous title: Will Musk's starship reach orbit this year?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [July 7, 2022, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583 "2022-07-07T22:05:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/561 "2023-11-18T11:30:18Z")
Hour and a half until launch. Things are going smoothly so far. Prop load just started. NSF stream: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uOI35G7cP7o/maxresdefault.jpg "SpaceX Launches Second Starship Flight Test") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOI35G7cP7o) Everyday Astronaut: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6na40SqzYnU/maxresdefault.jpg "[4K] Watch SpaceX launch Starship, the biggest rocket ever, LIVE up close and personal!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6na40SqzYnU) SpaceX stream should start here in about an hour: > **[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-2)** > > SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/562 "2023-11-18T12:30:38Z")
30 minutes to go. The SpaceX stream is up. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/563 "2023-11-18T12:50:55Z")
10 minutes! No problems so far, though they said they had to chase off some boats. ETA: Liftoff! ETA2: Can’t seem to make a fourth post, so editing this one. Great liftoff, though, and no apparent engine failures. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/564 "2023-11-18T13:07:08Z")
Oh damn, the booster went kablooey! But the Starship is still going. ETA: Guess their hot staging shield needs work. But the booster lasted long enough to get out of the way of the ship. Ship’s still burning clean. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/565 "2023-11-18T13:09:27Z")
Yes ! nice Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly there ! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/566 "2023-11-18T13:13:30Z")
That was a really solid RUD! Can’t wait to look at the replays (though I still need to sleep tonight). They’ve easily met their basic test goals: made it through hot staging, and through most of second stage flight. Can’t tell what’s going on right now–seems like they’ve lost signal, but I think the ship might still be going. Even if not, that was a pretty good test flight. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/567 "2023-11-18T13:17:04Z")
Well that was officially awesome. Looks like they lost both stages. But a remarkable success overall. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/568 "2023-11-18T13:20:13Z")
Yep, huge improvement over the last one. Pad looks good, Raptor reliability is _way_ up (no engines lost at all), and made it well in to second stage flight. Still lots of work to do, but very good progress. Hopefully the next flight will happen much sooner. And with that, I’m off to bed. 5:20 am is after even my bedtime… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/569 "2023-11-18T13:49:04Z")
Fantastic flight. Now I hope I can sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/570 "2023-11-18T15:11:37Z")
I almost forgot it was today and I tuned in about 60 seconds before it launched. That was a close call! The engines looked great, Starship made it to space, and the destruction of the booster was spectacular. I think the test cadence will really start to motor now. ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/571 "2023-11-18T16:02:12Z")
I understand how the booster failed (more or less) but can someone tell me what happened with the starship? Did it RUD? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/572 "2023-11-18T17:40:57Z")
Shit. I’ve been feverishly ill and completely missed a launch was going to happen. So I wake up this morning to the find I missed the show. Argh. > [@Saffer](#): > > can someone tell me what happened with the starship? Did it RUD? Second the question on the fate of the upper stage. Searching the news I find: > [@](#): > > “We have lost the data from the second stage… we think we may have lost the second stage,” SpaceX’s livestream host John Insprucker said. And > [@](#): > > It flew for several minutes before an unknown issue triggered the intentional destruction of the rocket. No people were on board this test flight. But perhaps that was about the booster. > [@](#): > > SpaceX said it believes that Starship’s self-destruct system activated, presumably because of a problem on board. Which may _also_ be about the booster. It sounds like SpaceX itself doesn’t know what happened to the upper stage. ? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/573 "2023-11-18T17:43:04Z")
Washington Post is reporting the Starship was lost: > **[Starship lost during second test; SpaceX says it likely self-destructed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/18/spacex-starship-launch-live/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert)** > > The rocket is key to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/574 "2023-11-18T17:50:03Z")
Thanks. From the link above: > [@](#): > > SpaceX lost its Starship rocket and spacecraft **in a pair of explosions** Saturday So both of them went kablooy is the story then. I wish the press could make that clearer. ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/575 "2023-11-18T17:50:26Z")
Maybe starship rendezvoused with the long lost zuma satellite 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/576 "2023-11-18T18:17:58Z")
So does that count as reaching orbit for the purpose of this thread? Because NASA is getting uneasy, The Atlantic writes ([gift link](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/11/spacex-starship-launch-failure-moon/676048/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) in Beta, let`s see how long it remains valid). They are counting on this thing working fine to go to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/577 "2023-11-18T18:24:09Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > [gift link](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/11/spacex-starship-launch-failure-moon/676048/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) in Beta, let`s see how long it remains valid Didn’t work for me. No adwall, tried a private window. In Chrome and Firefox. No dice. Appreciate the effort!! I can imagine Nasa is shitting pants right now. SLS is supposed to be the high maintenance, low cadence horse. Yes, a lot of Starship’s low cadence is regulatory, but you can’t blame two bad launches (and three RUDs) on that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/578 "2023-11-18T18:50:57Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > So does that count as reaching orbit for the purpose of this thread? I doubt it. Taking “reach orbit” in its least tortured interpretation, I don’t think Starship would have attained orbit this year at all. This flight was a sub-orbital hop. If everything worked, it might have gotten into space, but not into orbit. For all we know, it did get into space. We haven’t been told at which point in its trajectory it was destructed. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/579 "2023-11-18T18:51:51Z")
Well, at least the showerhead worked? It looked like it was a great solution. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/580 "2023-11-18T18:58:31Z")
Well, how much info did they get from telemetry? Nowadays I assume that there are many data channels, and quite a number of independent receivers monitoring them. It did seem a bit odd that they apparently lost the upper stage quite late, after it had separated and seemed to be running quite well? We probably won’t know until they analyse the data. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583.md?page=30)