Speaking at an Oct. 9 meeting of the National Academies’ Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president for build and flight reliability, expressed optimism that the booster could make it back for a catch by the launch tower. “We landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean” on the previous flight, he said, “so we think we have a reasonable chance to go back to the tower.”

Source

B1061 was intentionally expended on the recent Hera mission.

In doing so, it broke the record for the fastest Falcon 9 second stage.

Scott Manley: https://x.com/DJSnM/status/1843317121511743973

43040km/h the fastest falcon 9

43040 km/h = 11.956 km/s.

A few words from Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX VP of launch: https://x.com/TurkeyBeaver/status/1843341972414836779

The @SpaceX is unreal. Facing only a 15% chance of good weather this morning and an incoming major hurricane, we still went for (with a plan to roll the rocket back in the hangar for safety if we didn’t launch). Good launch, good orbit, and good payload deploy. Sayonara HERA and Booster 1061!!!

Starship's fifth flight test could launch as soon as October 13, pending regulatory approval.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app. The launch window will open as early as 7:00 a.m. CT. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates.

Flight 4 was a tremendous success. A fully successful ascent was followed by the first ever booster soft-landing in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship making it through a brilliant reentry, before its own landing burn and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The fifth flight test of Starship will aim to take another step towards full and rapid reusability. The primary objectives will be attempting the first ever return to launch site and catch of the Super Heavy booster and another Starship reentry and landing burn, aiming for an on-target splashdown of Starship in the Indian Ocean.

Extensive upgrades ahead of this flight test have been made to hardware and software across Super Heavy, Starship, and the launch and catch tower infrastructure at Starbase. SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success. We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only be attempted if conditions are right.

Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

The returning booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the landing zone. Generally, the only impact to those in the surrounding area of a sonic boom is the brief thunder-like noise with variables like weather and distance from the return site determining the magnitude experienced by observers.

Starship will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight test with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet our primary objective of a controlled reentry and soft water landing of Starship.

One of the key upgrades on Starship ahead of flight was a complete rework of its heatshield, with SpaceX technicians spending more than 12,000 hours replacing the entire thermal protection system with newer-generation tiles, a backup ablative layer, and additional protections between the flap structures. This massive effort, along with updates to the ship’s operations and software for reentry and landing burn, will look to improve upon the previous flight and bring Starship to a soft splashdown at the target area in the Indian Ocean.

With each flight building on the learnings from the last, testing improvements in hardware and operations across every facet of Starship, we’re on the verge of demonstrating techniques fundamental to Starship’s fully and rapidly reusable design. By continuing to push our hardware in a flight environment, and doing so as safely and frequently as possible, we’ll rapidly bring Starship online and revolutionize humanity’s ability to access space.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-10-07, 14:52 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-10-07, 10:52 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA | | Booster | B1061-23 | | Landing | No | | Payload | Hera | | Customer | ESA | | Mission success criteria | Successful delivery of payload to Heliocentric Orbit |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | ESA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O13Sp00Ltlw | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZwKh5geuNk | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHoKhL56KZ0 | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXsd0NvHVNI | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feQg1g0lI3g | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1843298058693390642 | The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-O0gpj0gUs

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 25th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 46th launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 8 days, 21:34:39 turnaround for this pad

☑️ 94th Falcon 9 mission this year, 380th Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 95th SpaceX mission of 2024, 395th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 97th SpaceX launch this year, 408th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight mission page

Hera is a space mission of the European Space Agency whose objective is to validate the kinetic impact method to deflect a possible asteroid circulating on a collision course with the Earth. The satellite will study the results obtained by the DART impactor developed by NASA which successfully crashed into the Dimorphos asteroid in September 2022.

“The FAA has determined that the absence of a second stage reentry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public in the event of a reoccurrence of the mishap experienced with the Crew-9 mission,” the agency stated. The second stage will propel Hera on an Earth-escape trajectory and thus will not reenter.

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1842333550974247407

Teams encapsulated @NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft into Falcon Heavy's fairing earlier this week ahead of next week's Falcon Heavy launch from pad 39A in Florida

Infographic source: rykllan

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1841104757810770324

• B1061 and B1067 tied for first place at 22 flights. (B1062 reached 23 but failed recovery)
• B1063 in second place with 20 flights.
• B1069 and B1071 tied for third place at 18 flights.
• B1073 in 4th place at 17 flights.

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1841104771760935033

https://x.com/_rykllan/status/1841104762571215069

SpaceX Starship page

Portions of this thread copied from a Starship Dev thread on r/SpaceX.

FAQ

1. When next launch? (IFT-5) Booster catch is now NET October 13th, per SpaceX: Tweet, website, archive
2. When previous launch? (IFT-4)? Booster 11 and Ship 29 launched on 2024-06-06.
3. What was the result? Both booster and ship make it to landing burn and splashdown. Ship flaps took a beating on reentry, but remained in control of the vehicle.

Quick Links

Nerdle Cam | Lab Cam | Sapphire Cam | Sentinel Cam | Rover Cam | Rover 2.0 Cam | Rocket Ranch Cam | Plex Cam | NSF Starbase Live

Starship Dev 57 | Starship Dev 56 | IFT-4 launch thread | Starship Dev 55 | IFT-3 launch thread | Starship Dev 54 | Starship Dev 53 |

Official SpaceX Starship Update Video (2024-04-06)

Road closures

Cameron County website - @bocaroad Mastodon bot

*As of 2024-10-31

• 2-hour road delays posted for Oct 2nd and 3rd between 00:00 and 03:00 for transport from factory to Massey's.
• Road closures for “non-flight testing” are posted for Oct 7th (10:00 to 22:00), and for Oct 8th and 9th (08:00 to 20:00).
• 1-hour road delays are posted for Oct 6th and 7th between 00:00 and 03:00 for transport from Brownsville Port to Massey’s.
• Oct 7th road closure (10:00 to 22:00) is scheduled.
• Road closures for “flight testing” are posted for Oct 13th, 14th, and 15th, from 00:00 to 14:00. (And in the alternative, Sep 24th or 25th, likely erroneous)
• Oct 13th 00:00 to 14:00 road closure is scheduled.
• Road closure is amended to include the period from Oct 13th 14:00 to Oct 14th 14:00. (ViX 1, ViX 2)
• 2-hour road delays are posted for Oct 15th (12:00 to 15:00) and 16th (00:00 and 03:00) for transport from pad to factory.
• Pad A: Booster transport stand finally arrives at the pad after an apparent delay the previous day. (ViX, NSF, Fediverse Starbase Tracker)
• 1-hour road delays are posted for Oct 21st (12:00 to 15:00) and 22nd (00:00 and 03:00) for transport from factory to pad. These are currently crossed out on the main page, so it possible that these have been cancelled.
• 1-hour road delays are posted for Oct 22nd (12:00 to 15:00) and 23rd (00:00 and 03:00) for transport from factory to pad.
• Road closure is posted for Oct 23rd (18:00 to 00:00) for non-flight testing activities.
• Road closures are posted for Oct 24th and 25th (08:00 to 20:00) for non-flight testing activities. Oct 24th closure is scheduled.
• Oct 24th road closure is extended from 20:00 to 23:00.
• 1-hour road delays are posted for Oct 25th (22:00 to 00:00) and 26th (12:00 and 15:00) for transport from pad to factory.
• 2-hour road delays are posted for Oct 26th (00:30 to 03:30) and 27th (00:00 and 03:00) for transport from factory to Massey's.
• Oct 25th road closure is revoked.
• 2-hour road delays are posted for Nov 1st (01:00 to 04:00) and 2nd (00:00 and 03:00) for transport from Massey’s to factory. (Presumably S33 rollback)

Vehicle Status

*As of 2024-10-31

Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Resources

• LabPadre Channel | NASASpaceFlight.com Channel
• NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
• NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
• NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
• SpaceX: Website Starship page | Starship Users Guide (2020, PDF)
• FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
• FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
• FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
• NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
• Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
• Production Progress Infographics by @RingWatchers
• Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
• Acronym definitions by Decronym
• Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
• Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine
• Everyday Astronaut 2024 Elon Musk Interviews: Starfactory tour | Pad tour and post-IFT-4 interview

After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.

We will resume launching after we better understand root cause

Welcome to the SpaceX Crew-9 Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Time to pick up Butch and Suni!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-28, 17:17:21 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-28, 13:17:21 (ET) | |Docking scheduled for (UTC)| | | Mission | Crew-9 | | Launch site | LC-40, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. | | Booster | B1085-2 | | Landing | LZ-1 | | Dragon | C212-4 (Freedom) | | Commander | Nick Hague 🇺🇸| | Mission Specialist | Aleksandr Gorbunov 🇷🇺| | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and docking to the ISS |

Note: This mission is launching with two empty seats for returning Barry E. Wilmore 🇺🇸 and Sunita Williams 🇺🇸 from the ISS.

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | NASA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKXtysRx0b4 | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMUVxflvxI | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eKnPK5RswM | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLZpj_rtzEo | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X67-Y-jJx40 | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQO8rN4nq8 | SpaceX | | The Space Devs |

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight, c/SpaceX, and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 1st crewed Dragon launch from SLC-40

☑️ 45th launch from SLC-40 this year

☑️ 11 day turnaround for this pad

☑️ 46th landing on LZ-1

☑️ 24th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (if successful)

☑️ 354th Falcon Family Booster landing

☑️ 93rd Falcon 9 mission this year, 379th Falcon 9 mission overall

☑️ 94th SpaceX mission of 2024, 394th mission overall (excluding Starship flights)

☑️ 96th SpaceX launch this year, 408th SpaceX launch overall (including Starship flights)

Mission info

• NextSpaceflight mission page
• SpaceX mission website

SpaceX Crew-9 is the ninth operational crewed rotation mission of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The original intended crew comprised Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov.

NASA has since decided to launch Crew-9 with only 2 crew members to allow the 2 Starliner CFT crew to return on Crew-9. The mission's commander will be Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov will be a mission specialist.

Steve Stich states at today's Crew-9 news conference that Dragon has a new contingency capability if all 4 parachutes fail; the SuperDracos will ignite prior to splashdown.

The Crew-8 return to Earth will also have this capability.

(He said this about 20 minutes after the start of the stream.)

Starlink Group 9-8 launch out of SLC-4E in California currently scheduled for 2024-09-25 04:01 UTC, or 2024-09-24 21:01 local time (PDT). B1081-10 to land on Of Course I Still Love You.

• NextSpaceflight page
• SpaceX mission page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRklRPky5tQ
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Yy3P2Y7FA
• NASASpaceflight:
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac5oqqnQ3eQ
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1838789456331223071
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLxKu_vyCeU