SpaceX conducted a static-fire test of their Starship Super heavy booster 9.
The test was conducted at the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Credit: SpaceX
The test was conducted at the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Credit: SpaceX
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TechTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon.
00:19 You're looking at SpaceX's Super Heavy booster number nine ahead of its first static fire
00:24 from Starbase Texas in just under two minutes from now.
00:28 For those of you following along, it's been three and a half months since our first integrated
00:32 flight test of Starship.
00:34 In that time, the teams worked on multiple improvements to the booster, as well as the
00:38 pad systems and infrastructure, which we will be testing out today, in addition to a new
00:43 startup sequence.
00:45 Most visual noticeable upgrade to look for this afternoon is the new water-cooled steel
00:50 flame deflector, a water-deluge system aimed at protecting the pad against the immense
00:56 heat and force of a Starship launch.
00:59 Today's test is to static fire the Super Heavy first stage.
01:02 We are not looking to lift off today.
01:05 That means the engines will not throttle up to full power.
01:07 That would happen after a lift off.
01:10 But even at the power of today's test, Super Heavy will have more thrust than Falcon Heavy
01:14 does at full power during its flight.
01:17 Now from start of ignition of the first bank of engines through shutdown of the last engines,
01:22 today's test will run just under five seconds.
01:25 Prop load started at T-67 minutes.
01:28 Now while we're fully loading LOX today, we're only doing a partial load of the methane fuel,
01:33 just enough to support the short test.
01:36 You may notice frost over most of the LOX tank, but just a portion of the methane fuel
01:41 tank.
01:43 We've heard the announcement for flight director.
01:45 We're past the 40-second hold point if needed.
01:49 Thirty seconds, let's listen in to the last half minute of the countdown of today's static fire.
01:55 T-minus 20 seconds.
01:59 T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
02:18 [rocket launching]
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03:52 [rocket launching]
03:56 Well, you saw the countdown, the water deluge system, the ignition of the super-heavy first stage.
04:03 Right now we're waiting to hear over the countdown net.
04:06 We reached a test duration of 2.74 seconds with four engines shutting down prematurely.
04:14 [rocket launching]
04:17 Heard a call out over the countdown net.
04:23 Here as we, we're still waiting to find out the duration of the test.
04:29 We did hear the call out that we had four engines shut down during the test.
04:34 But we're going to continue to monitor for another minute here in case flight director has any information over the booster countdown net.
04:41 [rocket launching]
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06:16 Well we've been listening to the booster countdown net, but we haven't heard the flight director come back up yet.
06:23 We did hear the one call out that we got into the ignition of the 33 engines.
06:27 It sounds like we had four that did shut down during the ignition, but we've not heard any other follow up.
06:34 We do know from other discussions the pad looks good, the launch vehicle looks good,
06:41 and right now the team is going to plan for proceeding into the regular propellant offload of the methane and liquid oxygen propellants on Super Heavy.
06:52 So right now, a big congrats to the Starship team for getting through today's test,
06:57 and with that, that moves us another step closer to our next flight test.
07:02 And for today, we're going to close the webcast out.
07:06 Be sure to follow our social pages as we look to post additional information on today's test.
07:12 And with that, thank you for joining us, and have a good day.
07:22 T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
07:32 [engine noise]
07:42 [engine noise]
07:52 [engine noise]
08:02 [engine noise]
08:12 [engine noise]
08:22 [engine noise]
08:32 [engine noise]