SpaceX Launch LIVE test flight Starship SN8

[Did You See Them]

Could be spectacular - one way or the other !

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[Bill Ryan]

Update: the launch now seems to be scheduled for 5 pm US Central Time, an hour and three-quarters from now.

:thumbsup:

[Did You See Them]

Loading propellant now
Popcorn at the ready and fingers crossed for a successful launch and test flight !

[Bill Ryan]

Update: the launch now seems to be scheduled for 5 pm US Central Time, an hour and three-quarters from now.
Further update: launch now scheduled for 4:35, 10 mins from now.

Edit to add:

Launch aborted at T minus 1.3 seconds. The engines didn't ignite, reasons currently unknown. They've just announced they're standing down for today.

[justntime2learn]

Aborted :(

[thepainterdoug]

what the sam hill is that? look like a bunch of kids with soup cans built it in thier garage. hey if it flies, fine

[Did You See Them]

T minus 2 minutes

[Did You See Them]

Raptor abort - stand down for day

LOL - Looks like my last two posts got delayed and posted after the event.

[Bill Ryan]

Here's today's live feed (Wednesday 9 Dec). It seems they plan to launch today, rocket engine bugs notwithstanding. :thumbsup:

As best I can see, no launch time is predicted yet, but it has to be before 5 pm US Central Time. It's almost sure to be several hours away as of the time of this post.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8bZkTjEnXw

[Did You See Them]

40 minutes estimated :thumbsup:

[Bill Ryan]

Update: delayed again. New schedule is 65 mins from now (4:45 pm CST)

[ExomatrixTV]

Starship | SN8 | High-Altitude Flight Test
341,355+ watching now
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As early as Wednesday, December 9, the SpaceX team will attempt a high-altitude suborbital flight test of Starship serial number 8 (SN8) from our site in Cameron County, Texas. The schedule is dynamic and likely to change, as is the case with all development testing. This live feed will start a few minutes prior to liftoff. This suborbital flight is designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform, and the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle, including its body flaps, to how the vehicle manages propellant transition. SN8 will also attempt to perform a landing flip maneuver, which would be a first for a vehicle of this size. With a test such as this, success is not measured by completion of specific objectives but rather how much we can learn as a whole, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship.


https://www.spacex.com/static/images/backgrounds-new/SN8_20201110.jpg


overview of multiple angles (https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html) multiple sources.

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4K 3840 × 2160P Live Stream:
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Best Stream: WATCH: SpaceX Starship First High-Altitude Attempt - Livestream:
KTiTrGqvd9c


pdf (https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf)

[Did You See Them]

Wow !
Great test of the Raptors and the aerodynamics.
Not far of nailing a landing as well !!

[Bill Ryan]

Screenshots:

The launch:

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_0.png

On the descent, a prolonged, controlled horizontal "skydiver bellyflop", with engines shut down. This had never been done before, and controlled only by its fins, it was totally stable and judged to be a spectacular success.

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_1.png

Then the engines fire, to start to bring it back to vertical:

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_2.png

And more vertical now:

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_3.png

Then the descent to [try to!] land vertically:

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_4.png

But there was low fuel pressure in its Raptor engine, so there wasn't enough thrust to slow it down enough.

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_5.png

http://projectavalon.net/Starship_6.png

[Did You See Them]

The footage of the horizontal skydive reminded me so much of the old ufo shots of hovering "Cylinder Motherships" as pic 2 above of Bill's shows.
So is SpaceX the first to try this manoeuvre or were they testing it out 70 years ago ?

[thepainterdoug]

Success!!!

[Richter]

Starship | SN8 | High-Altitude Flight Test

Best Stream: WATCH: SpaceX Starship First High-Altitude Attempt - Livestream:
KTiTrGqvd9c


pdf (https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf)


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[Did You See Them]

I've been reviewing the footage of the Starship launch after a friend who did not see it asked me to send him a link. I looked around for the best full flight to show him when something dawned on me !

The so called "failed" landing - as the MSM liked to report !

Where is the landing gear, struts or any kind of cushioning support ?
Was it supposed to sit on the rims of it's Raptor engines ?
I think not !

The mission was a complete success of it's Raptor engines and aerodynamics - It was never designed to land as such in that test !

[Bill Ryan]

I've been reviewing the footage of the Starship launch after a friend who did not see it asked me to send him a link. I looked around for the best full flight to show him when something dawned on me !

The so called "failed" landing - as the MSM liked to report !

Where is the landing gear, struts or any kind of cushioning support ?
Was it supposed to sit on the rims of it's Raptor engines ?
I think not !

The mission was a complete success of it's Raptor engines and aerodynamics - It was never designed to land as such in that test !Well, this is what's supposed to happen... cut to the end of this short video: :sun:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkk9VIKWw2w

[Did You See Them]

But they deploy tripod landing gear before touchdown ! - there is no landing gear installed that I can see on SN8 !

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[Bill Ryan]

But they deploy tripod landing gear before touchdown ! - there is no landing gear installed that I can see on SN8 !Right, they're just hard to see. :thumbsup: They're simply configured in a different way, not nearly so visible.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_xclJMmkCI

[Did You See Them]

Thanks Bill - that explains that then.
But boy - you'd have to ACE a landing with such a small footprint - and on a level flat surface.
Step up Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future lol !
Interesting things to come I'm sure.

[Did You See Them]

at 27 seconds I "think" I can see them - but they don't seem to have deployed !

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