SpaceX's fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket launched for the first time. The test flight successfully launched but failed to separate and ended with Rapid Unplanned Disassembly (RUD) a few minutes into flight.
Credit: SpaceX
Credit: SpaceX
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TechTranscript
00:00 [cheering]
00:20 Two minutes, 15 seconds.
00:21 [cheering]
00:25 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:34 [engine noise]
00:49 [radio chatter]
01:02 Booster after chamber pressure is nominal.
01:04 [cheering]
01:09 Two plus 43 seconds into the test flight of the inaugural Starship vehicle.
01:14 Tower cleared, we're into pitch over.
01:16 Propulsion reports first stage engines nominal.
01:19 What a sight when the ground cameras explode.
01:22 We're flying at twice the thrust of a Saturn V heading to space.
01:26 [cheering]
01:30 Our position is 6,000 feet, 15.
01:32 [cheering]
01:34 We're throttled down and throttled back up.
01:37 [cheering]
01:40 Going through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
01:43 [cheering]
01:50 As the velocity increases, the density of the atmosphere is decreasing.
01:54 Max Q.
01:55 Lessening stress on the vehicle. The call out, Max Q now.
01:58 [cheering]
02:06 Continuing to watch the first stage as we head downrange.
02:09 [cheering]
02:16 100 seconds into flight.
02:18 [cheering]
02:21 Our next major activity is going to be shutdown of the first stage.
02:25 Houston tracking station now acquiring the vehicle.
02:28 With shutdown, we will get separation of Starship from Super Heavy
02:33 and ignition of the Starship engines.
02:35 When Starship separates, we light up six engines in a staggered sequence.
02:40 If all goes well, those six engines will burn for almost six and a half minutes.
02:45 Onboard view from Starship.
02:47 [cheering]
02:50 And there's views of the Raptor engines on the second stage as we prepare for stage separation.
02:56 Now after stage separation, the first stage will flip
02:59 and begin a boost back maneuver for landing in the Gulf.
03:03 [cheering]
03:15 Continuing to fly. Two minutes, 40 seconds. Let's get ready for main engine cutoff.
03:20 [cheering]
03:25 Beginning to flip for stage separation.
03:27 [cheering]
03:37 [chatter]
03:58 As of right now, we are awaiting stage separation.
04:04 The entire Starship should separate from the Super Heavy booster.
04:12 Kate, right now it looks like we saw the start of the flip,
04:15 but obviously we're seeing from the ground cameras the entire Starship stack continuing to rotate.
04:20 We should have had separation by now.
04:22 Obviously this does not appear to be a nominal situation.
04:27 Yeah, it does appear to be spinning, but I do want to remind everyone that
04:31 everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.
04:36 [cheering]
04:44 And there as you saw, as we promised, an exciting end to the Starship inaugural integrated test flight.
04:53 [cheering]
05:06 Everyone here absolutely pumped to clear the pad and make it this far into the test flight,
05:12 the first integrated flight of the booster and the Starship vehicle.
05:18 We have a live view there of our control center at Starbase, which we refer to as Star Command.
05:28 As we said before, obviously we wanted to make it all the way through,
05:32 but to get this far honestly is amazing.
05:37 If you're just joining us, Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly
05:43 or a RUD during ascent.
05:46 This was a development test. This was the first test flight of Starship,
05:49 and the goal was to gather the data and as we said, clear the pad and get ready to go again.
05:55 So you never know exactly what's going to happen, but as we promised, excitement is guaranteed.
06:01 And Starship gave us a rather spectacular end to what was truly an incredible test thus far.
06:07 As we mentioned at the start of today's program, any and all the data that we collected during the test
06:13 is going to help us with further development of Starship,
06:16 and it's going to improve the vehicle's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.
06:21 It's really worth noting that the flight path was designed to be over water and all the air and sea space
06:27 along with that flight path and those surrounding areas were cleared in advance of the test.
06:31 And of course, we're going to be coordinating with local authorities for the recovery operations.
06:36 But honestly, what an exciting morning. Oh my gosh.
06:41 We had a successful liftoff from Starbase, Texas at 8.28 a.m. Central Time.
06:47 We cleared the tower, which honestly was our only hope.
06:52 We cleared the tower and all the data that we collected all the way through all those Raptor, those 33,
06:59 although I think we saw that three Raptor engines were out, but we got all that data.
07:04 And we got so far as to hoping to see the Starship, the second stage, separate from the first stage,
07:11 the super heavy booster. And unfortunately, we didn't make that happen, but that's okay.
07:16 It was the first integrated launch. And honestly, today was amazing.
07:21 Absolutely incredible day. We made it through a number of those initial test objectives
07:28 with getting booster ascent, getting all the way through the countdown, working some issues at the end.
07:33 Like really fantastic day. Got through the gate at T-minus 40 seconds on the second try.
07:38 Everything released, the hold downs, quick disconnect arms, everything moves out of the way.
07:42 And then we got the vehicle off of the pad through Max Q all the way up to stage separation,
07:48 even starting into the prep for stage step. And then as we say, a lot of excitement.
07:53 Honestly, my face has had a smile on it since liftoff and now my face hurts.
07:59 Now, since we don't have any insights on the cause of our rapid unscheduled disassembly,
08:04 at this point, we're going to end our webcast here.
08:07 Teams will continue to review the data and work toward our next flight test.
08:11 But before we go, a big congrats to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship.
08:18 And of course, a shout out to our viewers. We appreciate you joining us.
08:22 And as always, we thank you for your interest in Starship, SpaceX, and your ongoing support.