What time is SpaceX's 1st Starship and Super Heavy launch on April 17?

[LazyHippo]

SpaceX is counting down to its first ever launch of the world's biggest rocket, its towering Starship vehicle, on April 17, but exactly when the rocket will fly depends on several factors.

 

The first combined Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster are currently scheduled to launch from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas no earlier than Monday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). It will be 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) local time. But whether SpaceX actually targets that time or opts to wait until later in the window remains to be determined. Here's a look at what time the mission is expected to fly.

 

 

SpaceX's Starship SN24 and Super Heavy booster stand atop their launch pad at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas ahead of an April 2023 test flight. (Image credit: SpaceX)
 

 

SpaceX is currently targeting April 17 at 8 a.m. EDT (7 a.m. CDT/1200 GMT) to launch Starship and Super Heavy, but that may not be when the rocket actually lifts off.

 

This is the first full flight test of a combined Starship and Super Heavy, which together stand 395 feet tall (120 meters). SpaceX aims to use as a fully reusable launch system for missions to the moon and Mars. NASA has picked Starship to be the moon lander astronauts will use on the Artemis 3 mission in 2025, the first crewed landing on the moon since 1972. But first, SpaceX has to perfect the design, which is what this first flight test will help do.

According to SpaceX's mission plan, Starship and Super Heavy have a 150-minute window in which to lift off from Starbase. That puts the launch attempt for anytime between 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. EDT (7-9:30 a.m. CT/1200-1430 GMT). Exactly when SpaceX will target the launch within that 2.5-hour window will depend on the readiness of Starship and Super Heavy, the weather conditions at the launch site and if the launch "keep-out" zone is clear of ships offshore as a safety precaution.

If SpaceX does change the launch time before its webcast begins, the company will likely share a new T-0 time via Twitter and other channels as it has done for Falcon 9 rocket launches. So keep a close watch on the SpaceX Twitter feed for those updates.

SpaceX will provide a live webcast of the launch beginning about 45 minutes before liftoff. The webcast, is currently expected to begin at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT) for an 8 a.m. EDT liftoff.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: That start time could change, however, if SpaceX moves its target launch time deeper into the window.

 

Several other SpaceX-watching sites will offer wider commentary with their own livestream services. One site to follow is NASASpaceflight.com, which regularly offers its own livestreams of Starship testing activities at the Starbase facility. NSF will likely have extensive YouTube livestream coverage in the hours before SpaceX's own webcast.
 

Edited April 16, 2023 by LazyHippo
Double Headline? XD

[RedBaird]

This many engines reminds me of the Soviet N1 rocket that had a cluster of thirty engines and exploded in 1969, on the fourth launch attempt.  SpaceX should have an easier time of coordinating its multi-rocket cluster using modern computers, as opposed to ferrite-core memory computers of the '60s.

 

Oh, Dear!  Starship has even more engines!  "Super Heavy will be powered by 33 Raptor engines, with 13 in the center and the remaining 20 around the perimeter of the booster's aft end." (SpaceX site).

 

😮 

 

 

 

[RedBaird]

During the launch, before problems became evident, the TV showed an end-view of the engines, such as the one above, and it looked like several were not running! 

 

I had noticed a "fire flare" to one side of the main thrust and I now wonder if they were from engines "gimballed" to the sides to make the center of thrust more even.  Flares like those have been seen on other rocket launches, so I don't know.   

 

I will have to read up on what went wrong.  The announcers seemed to expect some of that 'tumble-motion' when the two stages were to separate, but not the 'merry-go-round' in the sky!  

 

At least it did not blow up on the pad, like the N1 did, and kill people!  

 

I did notice that there was no water tower nearby, to provide cooling for the flame-trench., so I guess that "cooking the launch-pad concrete to pieces" was part of the plan.