this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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Starship IFT-6 Launch Thread! (self.spacex)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by threelonmusketeers to c/spacex
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Well folks, it's time for Starship IFT-6! Another booster RTLS and chopsticks catch attempt, as well as the first in-space Raptor relight attempt.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-11-19 22:00 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-11-19 16:00 (CDT) | | Launch Window (UTC) | 2024-11-19 22:00 to 2024-11-19 22:30 (30 minutes) | | Launch site | Pad A, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. | | Booster | B13 | | Ship | S31 | | Booster landing | Chopsticks catch at Pad A or soft water landing in Gulf of Mexico | | Ship landing | Indian Ocean |

Webcasts

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucEu075bgx0 | | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDFirLcQDM | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtmvbQDou4I | | NASASpaceflight | Stakeout stream, launch stream | | LabPadre | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdGJ5p4PP1M | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxOuFrqyks | | VideoFromSpace | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7cM90N-CDc | | SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1857841326542434339 | | The Space Devs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpyWcPuepV8 |

Stats

Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:

☑️ 4th Starship Full Stack launch this year

☑️ 6th Starship Full Stack launch overall

☑️ 119th SpaceX launch this year

☑️ 431st SpaceX launch overall (including Starship hops)

☑️ 4th launch from Pad A this year

☑️ 37 days, 9:35:00 turnaround for this pad

Mission Details 🚀

Highlights from Elon

The objectives for Starship Flight 6 are:

  1. Restart of Raptor engines in vacuum.
  2. Daylight landing of the ship.
  3. Higher peak heating (steeper) reentry.
  4. Faster/harder booster catch.

There are thousands of small design changes also being tested.

Link to Starship Dev thread

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[–] threelonmusketeers 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Booster offshore divert." No booster catch today.

[–] threelonmusketeers 6 points 1 week ago

Booster landing burn and splashdown confirmed.

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago

Liftoff!

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago

Raptor startup and shutdown confirmed. Pretty short burn, maybe only 5 to 10 seconds.

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago

MECO, hot staging, stage separation, and boostback burn startup!

Tower is go for catch.

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Ship landing burn and splashdown confirmed!

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago

S31 contains a single banana as a zero-g indicator and dummy payload. Also served as a test run for approving Starship payloads with the FAA. The banana will not be deployed.

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Ship engine cutoff confirmed. Ship FTS has safed, nominal orbit insertion.

Raptor in-space relight demo scheduled for T+37:46.

[–] threelonmusketeers 4 points 1 week ago

Hot stage ring jettison confirmed.

[–] threelonmusketeers 4 points 1 week ago

Hosted webcast is back for in-space raptor relight test.

[–] threelonmusketeers 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Tower and launch mount venting has started.

[–] threelonmusketeers 4 points 1 week ago

Engine chill, range safety is go.

[–] threelonmusketeers 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Huh interesting, they're planning on pitching the ship nose-down during final descent to test the limits of flap control.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Raptor engine chill.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Tank farm "pope stack" has started venting.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

NASASpaceflight launch coverage has started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yd_cpPP4fE

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1858867695233425734

The objectives for Starship Flight 6 are:

  1. Restart of Raptor engines in vacuum.
  2. Daylight landing of the ship.
  3. Higher peak heating (steeper) reentry.
  4. Faster/harder booster catch.

There are thousands of small design changes also being tested.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1858983230915084420

Propellant load of the Super Heavy booster is underway.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1858975437965463582

The Starship team is go for prop load

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1858981291645140997

Propellant load of Starship’s upper stage is now underway

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

SpaceX hosted webcast has started. Kate Tice, Jessie Anderson, and Dan Huot are hosting.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Ship reentry has begun. Nice views of plasma.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Ship has passed through peak heating.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Starship is transonic.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

Starship has passed through Max-Q.

Slight heating visible on one of the forward flaps.

[–] threelonmusketeers 3 points 1 week ago

NASASpaceflight pre-launch coverage begins at T-12 hours (10:00 UTC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq_50kAOJoI