# 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:** 79
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1561 "2026-05-23T00:01:56Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > The solution to this is simply landing on a barge or landing pad. I don’t think any Starships for Earth landings are planned to have landing legs. I think they are supposed to be chopsticked. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1562 "2026-05-23T00:03:52Z")
Agreed. If they touched the sea surface in a vertical attitude at near zero velocity in every direction they made a fully successful landing followed immediately by a deliberate booster disposal maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1563 "2026-05-23T00:30:33Z")
It still seems nuts to me to be risking not only the vehicle but also a very expensive landing structure every time you touch down, but on the other hand every bit of extra mass you spend on the upper stage on stuff like landing legs comes straight out of your payload. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1564 "2026-05-23T01:15:40Z")
The rocket equation is brutal. Leaving weight on the ground pays dividends at a fantastically wonderful rate of return. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1565 "2026-05-23T04:48:57Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Did Musk command a hold on the launch just so he could shill?? > [@Lumpy](#): > > GODDAMN, I missed the launch because SpaceX was the ONLY feed that didn’t show it!!! Were you watching a real feed? I got caught by a fake Blue Origin stream on YouTube a few weeks ago, that had a surprise hold so an AI deepfake Jeff Bezos could steal cryptocurrency from viewers. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1566 "2026-05-23T07:25:34Z")
Launch and shockwaves. > ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1567 "2026-05-23T08:17:16Z")
When a rocket like this launches, aside from triggering the flight termination system, there really isn’t any ground control on the trajectory. In the launch today even with the engine out on the booster and the engine out on the ship, there was a drone streaming video right in the path of the upper stage splashdown of the in the Indian Ocean. That shit blows my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1568 "2026-05-28T21:04:43Z")
> **[FAA grounds SpaceX’s Starship after booster malfunction](https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/space/2026/05/27/faa-grounds-spacexs-starship-after-booster-malfunction)** > > The FAA stated that it is requiring SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1569 "2026-05-29T13:45:33Z")
Hmm, so they didn’t catch the booster because that part of the operation is considered a ‘done deal’? Bullshit. They seem to be in ‘one step forward, one step back’ mode. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1570 "2026-05-29T15:01:30Z")
That was rather my reaction as well. The thing they failed at this time was something they’d both failed at once then succeeded at several times threafter. Suggesting reliability isn’t actually there, and success is just whenever the luck doesn’t happen to run out. Our now absent friend @Stranger_On_A_Train used to comment that in all things spaceflight, there just aren’t enough trials to make statistical arguments about whether something is reliable or not. For e.g. Falcon 9, that _might_ be becoming a stale argument; I don’t have the data or the math skills to know. But for any machine of great complexity with just a few trials under its belt, “statistically proven reliability” is inherently an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1571 "2026-05-29T16:04:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Except that orbital data centers are an absolutely boneheaded idea. The only benefit to putting a data center in orbit is that you can use solar power for it constantly. That’s at best a factor of two improvement, even if launch costs and so on were completely free. Exactly. The same applies to that stubbornly persistent idea of powersats. A bad idea that just won’t seem to go away… Edit: a bit off topic here, perhaps better suited to the general space exploration thread…? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1572 "2026-07-14T05:49:37Z")
> **The next test flight of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster could take off as soon as Thursday** , and much of the hour-long mission will look a lot like the [last Starship flight in May](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/spacexs-starship-v3-still-a-work-in-progress-mostly-successful-on-first-flight/). > > But there are a few key differences for this launch, set to occur during a launch window that opens at 5:45 pm CDT (22:45 UTC) on Thursday. The most notable change is the inclusion of real, functioning Starlink satellites inside Starship’s cargo bay. SpaceX previously tested the ship’s [payload deployment mechanism](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/07/rocket-developers-used-to-chase-satellite-trends-is-the-inverse-now-true/) using simulators mimicking the mass and dimensions of the company’s next-generation Starlink Version 3 broadband satellites. > > This time—Starship’s 13th full-scale test flight and the second to use SpaceX’s newest version of Starship—technicians have installed 20 Starlink V3 satellites into the ship’s deployer, a system of pulleys and cables designed to eject a stack of satellites one at a time through an opening on the side of the spacecraft. > **[SpaceX is gearing up for Starship's 13th test flight later this week](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/07/spacex-is-gearing-up-for-starships-13th-test-flight-later-this-week/)** > > This flight will put Starship under higher pressure and test out new Starlink satellites in orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1573 "2026-07-16T22:48:28Z")
Wow, never expected a scrub _after_ they triggered the water! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1574 "2026-07-17T00:04:49Z")
The list of shit to abort for at that point is _very_ short. But might be as simple as a failure in the ground telemetry receiving system. Here’s hoping for their sake it was a ground-side problem not a vehicle problem. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1575 "2026-07-17T00:32:42Z")
Four engines failed to light. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1576 "2026-07-17T00:49:59Z")
I’m a bit surprised that’s an abort. The immediate thrust shortfall ought not be determinative. But any thinking like “we don’t understand this but it might get worse soon” would be a great reason to abort. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1577 "2026-07-24T17:37:50Z")
> SpaceX’s massive Starship is scheduled to the launch its next critical test flight on **Friday, July 24, at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT)** for on from Starbase, Texas. > **[SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch updates: It's launch day (again) for SpaceX...](https://www.space.com/news/live/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch-updates-july-24-2026)** > > Join us Friday, July 24, at 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT) for live coverage of Starship Flight 13. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1578 "2026-07-24T23:02:36Z")
This time it launched, but apparently the booster “landed” harder than planned. Also, the automatic captions on the video called the flight director “play tractor”. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1579 "2026-07-24T23:41:07Z")
Nice views of reentry right now. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2026, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583/1580 "2026-07-25T00:01:48Z")
The Ship survived! It’s floating on the ocean and transmitting data! Live views from a floating Starship. They must be getting great data from the drone as it looks closely at the heatshield. Are they going to be able to tow it back to examine it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583.md?page=78) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starship-development-and-progress-previous-title-will-musks-starship-reach-orbit-this-year/967583.md?page=80)