Watching the second attempt to launch Starship/Superheavy to orbit
Click for original image.
SpaceX’s second attempt of an inaugural orbital test launch of SpaceX’s massive Superheavy first stage with its orbital Starship spacecraft stacked on top has now been rescheduled for Thursday, April 20, 2023, with a 62-minute launch window opening at 8:28 am Central.
I have embedded SpaceX’s live stream of that launch below, which will begin around 7:15 am (Central). You can also see an independent 24/7 live stream from LabPadre, showing the launchpad from many different angles and available here. NasaSpaceFlight.com also has a 24/7 live stream showing multiple angles here. For both, to see links to their many camera angles click on “more” in the text.
Though both of these independent live streams provide alternative view angles of the launch, both will rely on SpaceX’s main live stream, embedded below, for actual updates on the countdown status.
The flight plan is shown in the graphic above. Assuming all goes as planned, most of the action will occur in the first ten minutes, at which time Starship will cut off its engines and be in orbit. It will then coast for a little over an hour when it will re-enter the atmosphere to splashdown in the Pacific north of the Hawaiian Islands.
As I have noted many times, the historical significance of this rocket cannot be overstated. It is twice as powerful as NASA’s Saturn-5 rocket and almost three-times as powerful as NASA’s new SLS rocket, and went from concept to launch in about seven years. Its development was funded entirely by private investment capital, at a fraction of the cost of either of the government’s rockets. And it will be completely reusable once operational, reducing the cost exponentially of getting large 100-ton payloads into orbit.
And most important, it was developed by free Americans, following their own personal dreams.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Click for original image.
SpaceX’s second attempt of an inaugural orbital test launch of SpaceX’s massive Superheavy first stage with its orbital Starship spacecraft stacked on top has now been rescheduled for Thursday, April 20, 2023, with a 62-minute launch window opening at 8:28 am Central.
I have embedded SpaceX’s live stream of that launch below, which will begin around 7:15 am (Central). You can also see an independent 24/7 live stream from LabPadre, showing the launchpad from many different angles and available here. NasaSpaceFlight.com also has a 24/7 live stream showing multiple angles here. For both, to see links to their many camera angles click on “more” in the text.
Though both of these independent live streams provide alternative view angles of the launch, both will rely on SpaceX’s main live stream, embedded below, for actual updates on the countdown status.
The flight plan is shown in the graphic above. Assuming all goes as planned, most of the action will occur in the first ten minutes, at which time Starship will cut off its engines and be in orbit. It will then coast for a little over an hour when it will re-enter the atmosphere to splashdown in the Pacific north of the Hawaiian Islands.
As I have noted many times, the historical significance of this rocket cannot be overstated. It is twice as powerful as NASA’s Saturn-5 rocket and almost three-times as powerful as NASA’s new SLS rocket, and went from concept to launch in about seven years. Its development was funded entirely by private investment capital, at a fraction of the cost of either of the government’s rockets. And it will be completely reusable once operational, reducing the cost exponentially of getting large 100-ton payloads into orbit.
And most important, it was developed by free Americans, following their own personal dreams.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Usually, I couldn’t care less about launches. Really haven’t since the later STS days. But I find myself actually interested again with SpaceX’s stuff, oddly enough. It was really interesting watching the boosters land, or occasionally NOT land. Was neat watching the vehicle belly flop most the way down and flip upright to land. Still an odd way of doing it, but whatever, it obviously works. I guess maybe the whole thing being a bit unconventional has peaked my interest again. I’m not sure, but it is fun again. Though I do find the commentators a bit annoying sometimes, but that’s what dialing down the volume is for.
Once upon a time, I was a science educator gifted press credentials from a local tv/radio station w/news.
I was able to get press access to the first launch and landing of the Shuttle. Before that, Voyager@Saturn at JPL.
Because of that KSC access, I moved to Florida. I’ve seen many launches. Set my alarm clock to many a different launch time.
I was too young to visually see Sputnik pass overhead, did anyone?
I remember watching Echo pass overheard many times. An artificial star.
Those were baby steps. It’s evolution, after all. Including Shuttle, Soyuz, Ariane and STS.
This is more adult-like stuff.
I participated in one of the early “Moonwatch” exercises, where kids used little mirror devices to observe a Sputnik pass. I saw it once, but was skeptical of the point (or lack thereof) of the exercise, since there was no scientific result derived. It did generate awareness, and a little over two decades later, we went to the moon. Then the Democrats began their long project of convincing us we didn’t care anymore about space!
In between I participated in one of the first amateur team attempts to observe a grazing lunar occultation of a visible star. It was a flop due to clouds, but I briefly glimpsed the star a few minutes ahead of the occultation.
My fondest memory of those years is measuring the speed of light using a photocell, a corner reflector, and an oscilloscope. My science teacher had to convince the cops that a bunch of kids out in a park after dark were not up to mischief! We got the right answer too!
@Ray,
Well under two decades. Less than twelve years from Sputnik 1 to Apollo 11.
“As I have noted many times, the historical significance of this rocket cannot be overstated. It is twice as powerful as NASA’s Saturn-5 rocket and almost three-times as powerful as NASA’s new SLS rocket, and went from concept to launch in about seven years. Its development was funded entirely by private investment capital, at a fraction of the cost of either of the government’s rockets. And it will be completely reusable once operational, reducing the cost exponentially of getting large 100-ton payloads into orbit.”
In addition, reusability allows for more frequent launches using fewer resources. The cost per pound drops dramatically, allowing for far more to be done in space than ever before. We can have goods manufactured in space, presenting us with material properties that we could not get before. Superior medications have been predicted and studied for decades.
Jeff Bezos’s dream of moving much of the polluting industry to space can soon be realized, reducing the pollution here on Earth. We the People dreamed that possibility and can make it come true — in more than half a century, government didn’t do it or think of it.
It could become possible to realize Gerard K. O’Neill’s dream of space colonies and space-based solar power generation for beaming back here to Earth, further reducing pollution, increasing our total power usage, yet reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
These were only two free Americans with their own personal dreams. We have three hundred million more.
The Falcon 9’s reduction in the price to get to orbit made a major change in the way we think of and use space. The reduction in price due to Starship should be even more remarkable. With the Falcon 9, we expected this decade to have a rapid change in the commercial use of space. With Starship, it could be even more rapid — even more dramatic — than we expected.
“And most important, it was developed by free Americans, following their own personal dreams.”
Amen!
To GaryMike, it wasn’t Sputnik people saw but the R-7 core tumbling after it, most likely. Without the heavy nuke or later upper stages, the core could orbit like LM-5, or Atlas Score.
Alabama could have put a Redstone-Explorer up earlier had we not been interfered with. Instead, the ABMA was killed.
“I was too young to visually see Sputnik pass overhead, did anyone?”
Saw it in Perth, Western Australia as a nine year old. Also watched Apollo 13 pass at 4am after half an orbit. Very bright but fuzzy from the attitude gases etc.
WOW.
It was a RUD somewhere around planned stage sep, but still. It flew.
Now that was a damned exciting countdown, liftoff, and flight. The supersonic aerobatics were pretty spectacular as well. FTS to the rescue, let’s do it again!!! Kudos, SpaceX Team!!
Right off the bat, three engines not working; some debris flying at launch. At about +28 seconds, more debris then a flash. Dissapointing, but not unexpected. Nevertheless a good learning experience.