Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Residents are leaving Boca Chica Village - they are all supposed to be out by 10 PM local time (two hours from now) when the road closes. Apart from a small handful, they are all SpaceX employees.

T-2 1/2 hours, countdown still proceeding

Propellant loading is underway

All systems and weather are 'go'

T - 10 minutes - countdown proceeding

John Insprucker says they are working no significant issues

It took off much faster than last time. All engines lit and remained lit through boost. The hot-staging worked fine. The booster performed its flip and lit its engines for boost-back

Then the booster exploded for some reason. Unclear if that was the flight termination system. Speculation that fuel might have been sloshing.

Meanwhile the second stage lit all of its engines and accelerated away. It almost reached orbital velocity, then telemetry was lost and belief is the flight computer activated the FTS.

And the pad seems to have survived in much better shape.

So while it wasn't 100% success, it was a vast improvement over IFT-1.

Hot staging - This looks like a render, but it is an actual photograph



Radar and some video indicate that large fragments of the Starship second stage reentered north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

https://twitter.com/JoeTegtmeyer/status/...3997644119

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/17...4114974995

Photo by the unbelievable Mauricio and Irma of RGV Aerial Photography taken just hours after the launch showing the Orbital Launch Mount. The 'water cooled steel plate' and the surrounding concrete look fine, there aren't any craters halfway to China. The only damage visible is purely cosmetic, some scorching that will require painting.

Elon agrees: Launch pad is in great shape

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1725999525221777561



The NASA administrator says, Congrats to the teams who made progress on today’s flight test.

Spaceflight is a bold adventure demanding a can-do spirit and daring innovation. Today’s test is an opportunity to learn—then fly again.

Together NASA and SpaceX will return humanity to the Moon, Mars & beyond.

https://twitter.com/SenBillNelson/status...5769028836

Astronomy Live (who does extraordinarily good spacecraft tracking photography) was in the Florida Keys with a telescopic camera and a finder scope, looking where Flightclub.io predicted Starship would pass over. And he caught this photo of S25's tumbling nose after it broke up. I'm guessing that it was what was observed reentering the atmosphere north of Puerto Rico.

https://twitter.com/astroferg/status/172...5592355093



From Jonathan McDowell



The FAA says, This information is preliminary and subject to change:

A mishap occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-2 launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, Nov. 18. The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported.

https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1725890315251228682

Wonderful recap video by RGV Aerial Photography, featuring a great detailed description of IFT-2, along with photos of the launch site taken just two hours after the launch by the lovely, brave and talented Irma (Mauricio's sister).

Check it out, it's great!

Closeup photo taken after the launch by Elon of the 'water cooled steel plate'. There isn't any visible damage!



Looking upwards at the OLM ring - no visible damage there either! (Photo by Elon)

(Nov 19, 2023 09:41 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Closeup photo taken after the launch by Elon of the 'water cooled steel plate'. There isn't any visible damage!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_UmKAUbgAAG...=4096x4096

Looking upwards at the OLM ring - no visible damage there either! (Photo by Elon)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_UmKAUbcAA7...=4096x4096

Well, at least lack of chunks of concrete tossed into the nesting grounds and other wildlife habitat will hold the bureaucrats at bay locally. They could yet make hay over the "wastewater" issue, though.

And the intelligentsia is still terrified of exploding rockets. Though the debris may have landed in distant regions, no doubt office grunts are hard at work trying to conceive some way to milk physical concerns and moral horror from objects blowing-up in the sky and in space.

SpaceX photo