Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Today they did a full launch rehearsal, which included completely filling both booster and ship with propellant.



nsNS

The Space Engineer's (@mcrs987) Raptor 3 schematic

https://x.com/mcrs987/status/1877855892793696589

Notams and marine warnings in both the Gulf of Mexico and off Australia are changing, apparently indicating that Flight 7 has been pushed back from Monday Jan 13 to Tuesday Jan 14. Again, I suspect that the primary reason is weather.

Now Flight 7 has been moved to Wednesday January 15.

(Just launch the damn thing SpaceX!!)

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1878281148893102238

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/...p-flight-7

If this was the movies and looks was all it takes, this thing would already be halfway to Mars

(Photos by Groundtruthpics)

Tomorrow's Flight 7 launch is still on, but weather appears iffy with fog and rain on the menu.

Mexico has space-nuts too! Frontera Espacial will be live-streaming (in Spanish) from the Mexican side of the mouth of the Rio Grande, the closest point that people are allowed to be to the launch pad. (The American exclusion zone is only on the Texas side.)

Flight 7 has been pushed back to Thursday January 16, due to bad weather. This wasn't unexpected.

4 PM Central, 5 PM Eastern, 2 PM Pacific

It's on!

Weather looks good (it was a concern). Pad is clear, road is closed. A helicopter is flying around making sure there's nobody on the beach or hiding in the dunes.

Workers are leaving the factory area. The tank farm is emitting vapor and showing signs of life.

New launch time: 4:37 PM CST, 5:37 Eastern, 2:37 Pacific

---

GO for propellant load. The orbital launch mount is venting indicating that they are chilling down the cryogenic propellant lines.

EditProp load about 1/2 done. Engine chill started.

T - 10 minutes

Prop load complete

Launch director GO for launch

LIFTOFF - all 33 engines running

Staging good

GO FOR BOOSTER RETURN

SUCCESSFUL CATCH!!!

Major problem with the ship - lost telemetry around time of ship engine shutdown

Engines seemed to be prematurely dropping out, then all communication with the ship was lost

SpaceX says that the ship has been lost

It definitely broke up. Unclear if it exploded or if flight termination system was responsible. The fragments appear to have gone into the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico.