Starship preparing for launch 🚀 pic.twitter.com/M1pR8rsmYt

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 6, 2023

Welp, Starship heavy will not be flying early next week. The Notice for April 10 is for non-flight testing purposes.

https://wccftech.com/spacex-wont-fly-starship-on-april-10th-confirms-local-notice/

I have ordered the closure of Boca Chica Beach and Hwy 4 for the purpose of protecting Public Health and Safety during SpaceX non-flight testing activities on April 10, 2023, in the time period between 8:00 a.m. C.S.T. to 8:00 p.m. C.S.T, and in the alternative on April 11, 2023 or April 12, 2023, from 8:00 a.m. C.S.T. to 8:00 p.m. C.S.T., of the same day. Should SpaceX not complete its planned non-flight testing on April 10, 2023, then SpaceX may use the alternate dates to complete its testing activities.

Maybe the non launch will be a launch in order to keep people away.

Really impressed with the visuals JWST is giving us.

Uranus rotates on its side, causing its poles to experience 42 years of sunlight & 42 years of darkness. (It takes 84 years to orbit the Sun.) Voyager flew by Uranus in 1986 when it was summer at its south pole. Now the south pole is out of view, facing the darkness of space.

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 6, 2023

Uranus has 27 known moons. Most are too small and faint to see, but the 6 brightest are labeled in this wide-view. (The other bright objects are background galaxies.) This was only a 12-minute exposure image! It's just the tip of the ice(planet)berg for what Webb will uncover. pic.twitter.com/p7vpPdNiqo

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 6, 2023

Evaluating Starship's first flight trajectory!

Ryan (@dpoddolphinpro) overviews the latest NOTMARs and the marine hazard zones alongside expert calculations.

➡️https://t.co/P7Ja2CJCtM pic.twitter.com/yXh9H6xXlR

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) April 6, 2023

That thumbnail

Whoa that animation is really well done and kudos to the creator for the surprise reentry.

Will potentially be 50 miles offshore galveston and hope i will be able to see the launch.

Very good animation. I think it's time to see the real thing though

Seeing the animations of the tower catching the booster showcases how audacious this design is. Really well done.

OKCAg2002 said:

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Quote:

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On this front, rumors suggest that SpaceX is facing a flurry of lawsuits should the FAA provide it with a launch license. These suits can delay a launch attempt, and as a result, the company is eager to keep the launch date secret and launch as soon as it receives regulatory clearance. Of course, all this is speculation, but environmental issues surrounding the Boca Chica beach have been a thorny issue during Starship development.

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No, we don't want to see humanity progress into an interplanetary species because some turtle may be startled.

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I'm still tracking next week. I guess we shall see.

Just updated, now showing up NET 17 Apr

Starship is stacked & ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval https://t.co/fLHTjwOMOT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 6, 2023

Get someone who loves you as much as Elon loves unrealistic timelines

Latest update today confirms the rumors: launch attempt on Monday, April 17. No backup date listed.

https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt.jsp

That's what we were hearing at work.

will25u said:

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Welp, Starship heavy will not be flying early next week. The Notice for April 10 is for non-flight testing purposes.

https://wccftech.com/spacex-wont-fly-starship-on-april-10th-confirms-local-notice/

I have ordered the closure of Boca Chica Beach and Hwy 4 for the purpose of protecting Public Health and Safety during SpaceX non-flight testing activities on April 10, 2023, in the time period between 8:00 a.m. C.S.T. to 8:00 p.m. C.S.T, and in the alternative on April 11, 2023 or April 12, 2023, from 8:00 a.m. C.S.T. to 8:00 p.m. C.S.T., of the same day. Should SpaceX not complete its planned non-flight testing on April 10, 2023, then SpaceX may use the alternate dates to complete its testing activities.

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"Non"- flight…

Lol


I think they make an attempt.

Sounds likenthey make a brief static fire to test stand improvements.

Ag_of_08 said:

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Sounds likenthey make a brief static fire to test stand improvements.

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Doubt they static fire just to test the stand. The stand is no where near the technical risk or cost of the launch vehicle.

Seems high risk, low reward, to do a static just for the launch stand.

Inwould think, given the biggest struggle to this point has been keeping the launch mount intact, and the fixes haven't really been tested, something like a 9 engine fire might be worth the risk to avoid a fully fueled RUD if the mount was to collapse or otherwise fail.

I mean.... I'm all for an earth shattering kaboom, but...

NM. Wrong thread.

I'm far from an expert, but it sure seems like they've done every test they can do. They've even done the full wet dress rehearsal for launch. At some point, you gotta send it.

I agree, just speculating about what non flight testing may be, and why. Honestly I doubt they light an engine before the 17th period

Last I heard from NSF, they have confirmed a Wet Dress Rehearsal next week. That is probably happening on the 10th. The 17th launch would make sense if the FAA comes through. No static fires. That wouldn't add value since the vehicle is proofed. They haven't added a deluge yet so the pad will take a hit. Nothing a little paint and minor repairs can't mend.

Oh I thought they had added parts of it

They have added part of the tank systems and piping for the deluge. Nothing has been added at the launch mount. Only a fire suppression system directly under the table. But that isn't the same as a deluge system as it concerns launch operations. Needless to say, it will not be operational at the launch of the test flight.

The next closure is Tuesday and it is likely the WDR.

Can they work out there while the stack is up? They could pull off a deluge system in two weeks if they were otherwise ready imo

Not likely. The system they are doing early work on in Cape Canaveral utilizes underground piping and manifolds surrounding the launch mount with alot of pipes to shoot a large volume of water directly skyward surrounding the pad. This would require a month of work at the minimum. They have these same manifold pipe sections on site at Boca in lay down yards away from the launch site. So it appears the design is identical. They would have to severely delay the test flight to install and commission the deluge system.

This will probably be a high priority after the first test flight from the OLM. It's likely there will be some repairs on that site anyway.

I'm imagining the thought process is that there's a nonzero chance you blow up and damage everything anyway... Might as well see if you can send it