Watch How SpaceX Test Launches The Starship and Super Heavy Rocket
Watch how SpaceX's fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket launches during a test flight 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]
00:25 [countdown]
00:32 [engine noise]
00:49 [engine noise]
01:02 [engine noise]
01:09 [engine noise]
01:21 [engine noise]
01:27 [cheering]
01:35 We're throttled down and throttled back up.
01:40 Going through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure.
01:44 [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 callout, Max Q now.
01:59 [cheering]
02:06 Continuing to watch the first stage as we head downrange.
02:10 [cheering]
02:16 100 seconds into flight.
02:21 Our next major activity is going to be shutdown of the first stage.
02:26 Houston tracking station now acquiring the vehicle.
02:30 With shutdown, we will get separation of Starship and Super Heavy
02:34 and ignition of the Starship engines.
02:37 When Starship separates, we light up six engines in a staggered sequence.
02:42 If all goes well, those six engines will burn for almost six and a half minutes.
02:46 Onboard view from Starship.
02:49 [cheering]
02:51 And there's views of the Raptor engines on the second stage
02:55 as we prepare for stage separation.
02:58 Now after stage separation, the first stage will flip
03:01 and begin a boost back maneuver for landing in the Gulf.
03:04 [cheering]
03:15 Continuing to fly.
03:17 Two minutes, 40 seconds. Let's get ready for main engine cutoff.
03:24 Beginning to flip for stage separation.
03:27 [cheering]
03:56 As of right now, we are awaiting stage separation.
04:02 Starship should separate from the Super Heavy booster.
04:08 Right now, it looks like we saw the start of the flip,
04:14 but obviously we're seeing from the ground cameras
04:17 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
04:30 that 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
04:48 to the Starship inaugural integrated test flight.
04:53 [cheering]
05:06 Everyone here absolutely pumped to clear the pad
05:10 and make it this far into the test flight,
05:12 the first integrated flight of the booster and the Starship vehicle.
05:18 Live view there of our control center at Starbase,
05:22 which we refer to as Star Command.
05:27 As we said before, obviously we wanted to make it all the way through,
05:32 but to get this far, honestly, is amazing.
05:36 Well, if you're just joining us,
05:38 Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly
05:43 or a RUD during ascent.
05:45 But now this was a development test.
05:47 This is the first test flight of Starship,
05:49 and the goal was to gather the data and, as we said,
05:52 clear the pad and get ready to go again.
05:55 So you never know exactly what's going to happen,
05:57 but as we promised, excitement is guaranteed.
06:01 And Starship gave us a rather spectacular end
06:04 to what was truly an incredible test thus far.
06:07 As we mentioned at the start of today's program,
06:10 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
06:18 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
06:25 and all the air and sea space along with that flight path
06:29 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
06:34 for the recovery operations.
06:36 But honestly, what an exciting morning.
06:39 Oh, my gosh.
06:41 We had a successful liftoff from Starbase, Texas
06:44 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
06:55 all the way through all those Raptor, those 33,
06:59 although I think we saw that three Raptor engines were out,
07:02 but we got all that data.
07:04 We got so far as to hoping to see the Starship,
07:09 the second stage, separate from the first stage,
07:11 the super heavy booster, and unfortunately,
07:14 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.
07:24 We made it through a number of those initial test objectives
07:28 with getting booster ascent, getting all the way through the countdown,
07:31 working some issues at the end, like a really fantastic day.
07:34 Got through the gate at T-minus 40 seconds on the second try.
07:38 Everything released, the holddowns, quick disconnect arms,
07:41 everything moves out of the way, and then we got the vehicle
07:44 off of the pad through Max Q all the way up to stage separation,
07:48 even starting into the prep for stage set,
07:50 and then as we say, a lot of excitement.
07:53 Honestly, my face has had a smile on it since liftoff,
07:57 and now my face hurts.
07:59 Now, since we don't have any insights on the cause
08:02 of our rapid, unscheduled disassembly at this point,
08:05 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
08:15 on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship,
08:18 and of course, a shout out to our viewers.
08:20 We appreciate you joining us, and as always,
08:23 we thank you for your interest in Starship, SpaceX, and your ongoing support.