Starship Flight Test

SpaceX
SpaceX
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Published 2023-04-20
Starship gave us quite a show during today’s first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas.

At 8:33 a.m. CT, Starship successfully lifted off from the orbital launch pad for the first time. The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship. As is standard procedure, the pad and surrounding area was cleared well in advance of the test, and we expect the road and beach near the pad to remain closed until tomorrow.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship.

Thank you to our customers, Cameron County, and the wider community for the continued support and encouragement. And congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first flight test of Starship!
All Comments (21)
  • @DeutscheReich
    Seeing the progress between flight 1 and 4 is amazing
  • @ProDiamondz
    Who was here after the Starship 4th Flight? and I just couldn't believe of how far the progress they did go after flight after flight. DAMN THAT BOOSTER AND STARSHIP SPLASHDOWN THO.
  • @upforellie
    Literally if I have had an absolutely atrocious day. Like feeling so bad about everything- I re-watch this. There's something so cool about forgetting everything wrong with the Earth for 2 minutes by listening and watching people get excited for a skyscraper doing backflips above the planet. I've never left this video without being excited for the future of everything.
  • @OneBiasedOpinion
    What I love most about the liftoff is the difference in the cheering. At 45:03 you can hear the employees cheering in enthusiasm and encouragement because it’s hella awesome to see their creation finally coming to life. But it’s at 45:10 that the cheers turn to yells of triumph as the vehicle actually achieves liftoff. Up until that moment they had no idea if they were about to watch the world’s largest RUD event since N1, but their rocket flew, and it flew well in spite of some frankly terrible damage done to itself and everything around it. I never fail to shed a few tears when I hear them cheering for the largest rocket ever built as it leaves the pad for the first time on its very first flight test, all without instantly exploding into a million pieces. Words cannot express how incredibly rare that is to see in the history of rocketry and they ought to be damn proud of themselves for what this launch achieved.
  • @ReveredDead
    Want to be mind blown? Remember we just witnessed the equivalent of a 40 story building take off, reach max Q and then twist and tumble numerous times going at incredible G's. All that force and the thing stayed intact until the auto destruct went off. That rocket is an absolute beast. Seriously SpaceX you guys have made history today. Thank you.
  • @RichardAgain
    46:12 That shot where we just see white dots from the engines through the clouds was amazing! Goosebumps...
  • @Danvito13
    I have a piece of the heat shield tile from this launch sitting proudly on my shelf. One of my favourite items in history.
  • @HackingHD2
    rewatching this after the second flight test and it is amazing how far the starship program has came in 6 months
  • @redrooster303
    That ship is strong. To be able to stay in one piece for that long while spinning at thousands of KMPH is crazy.
  • @kimerox2591
    at the callout "we are now flying twice the thrust of Saturn 5",i get the biggest goosebumps of my life ❤
  • @daname1491
    I honestly did not expect that it would go that high. The fact that it even lifted of the ground was a massive success itself, let alone 39km.
  • @kalebbruwer
    Let's just take a moment to appreciate the quality of the stream, this is really well done
  • @danielleriley2796
    The people who built this machine are legends. They should be so proud.
  • @GameRiot
    Congrats to SpaceX. Unbelievable to see and witness
  • @getinthespace7715
    The fact that they could apparently lose so many engines and were still capable of liftoff and sustaining the mission was very cool. That's actually great redundancy and good safety feature. Seemed like they were never able to completely shut down main engines so the starship was never allowed to separate. I can't believe the entire stack was able to flip like that without breaking in half. Can't wait to see the next one fly.
  • @theturnc0at
    The journey of a hundred million miles begins with a single step. And this? Quite the stride, I must say. Mars beckons.
  • @ElectronicAstronaut
    The largest flying object ever made by humanity. Clearing off the pad and passing through MaxQ is a huge success! Congratulations, onto the next one.