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LIVE: SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch (full) — Transcript

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0:00Hello and welcome to Starbase, Texas.
0:03It's 5:19 p.m. Texas time and we are
0:06just over 31 12 minutes away from
0:09Starship Flight 13, the second test
0:12flight of our next generation Starship
0:14version 3. During our initial launch
0:17attempt last week, we had a clean
0:18countdown, loaded all propellant, and
0:20got all the way to engine ignition,
0:22where the vehicle executed a safe
0:24shutdown when its automated systems
0:26detected offnominal startup on four
0:28engines. That safe shutdown ensured that
0:31both the vehicle and launchpad were kept
0:33safe. As we often say, the payload on
0:36these test flights is data. And even
0:39when we don't get off the ground, we
0:40learned some valuable lessons and
0:42improved from them. We're going to dig
0:43into the details of that in just a
0:45moment. But all of that to say is that
0:47we're here today and we're ready for our
0:49second launch attempt. I'm Kate Ty,
0:51senior manager of quality systems
0:52engineering.
0:53>> And I'm Nathan Commaser, a civil
0:54engineer here at SpaceX. Today we're
0:57coming to you live once again from just
0:59outside the Star Factory production
1:00floor about a mile and a half from the
1:02rocket on the pad. Back in May, the
1:06first test flight of Starship version 3
1:08delivered tons of data and we'll be
1:09putting those learnings into practice
1:11today on flight 2. All of this brings us
1:14one step closer to a fully and rapidly
1:16reusable vehicle, the key to enabling
1:18frequent flights to the moon and Mars.
1:21Starship will also enhance Starlink's
1:23constellation and connectivity on Earth,
1:25the moon, and beyond, while helping
1:27establish a network of AI data centers
1:29in space. Success on today's suborbital
1:32mission also opens the door for near
1:35future orbital flights and our first
1:37attempt to catch ship on tower 2 here at
1:40Starbase. And this is an exciting day
1:42for the Starlink team as well, as we're
1:44planning to deploy 20 of the newest
1:46generation Starlink satellites. These
1:48SATs aren't intended for operational use
1:50and will only be in space for about 20
1:52minutes before demising. But during
1:54those 20 minutes, we're going to attempt
1:56to speedrun a bunch of tests. Things
1:58like deploying solar arrays, firing
2:00thrusters. We'll get into those into a
2:02little bit later into the show. Yeah.
2:04And what Starlink engineers learned
2:06today will be essential to deploying
2:08operational V3 satellites into the
2:11Starlink constellation on future
2:13Starship flights. These larger, more
2:15powerful next generation satellites are
2:17designed to boost orbital capacity,
2:20strengthen the overall network, and
2:22deliver a noticeably better experience
2:24for our customers. And as we've said
2:26before, Starship is a developmental
2:28program. What we're doing today is a
2:30test. We test in flight because it's the
2:32best way to rapidly iterate the design
2:34and it's the best way to put the vehicle
2:36through its paces in the actual
2:38conditions it will experience during an
2:40operational mission.
2:41>> Yeah, exactly. So, while we have real
2:44Starlink satellites on board, the most
2:46important payload today is data. But no
2:49matter outcome of today's test flight,
2:52excitement is once again guaranteed.
2:54>> Now, let's head a couple of floors
2:56upstairs where Dan Huitt is just outside
2:58the launch control center. How's it
2:59going, Dan?
3:00>> Hey, Nate. It is going great. Hi to you
3:02and Kate. Hello, everybody else. I'm Dan
3:04Hwitt with SpaceX Communications. Happy
3:06to be here with you for another launch
3:08day. As Kate noted, our first attempt to
3:10launch this flight test last Thursday
3:12ended early in a pad. Let's dig into
3:14that a little bit. So, four of Super
3:17Heavy's 33 Raptor engines aborted at
3:19startup due to issues with their ox
3:21turbo pumps. Those rapidly pressurize
3:24and feed liquid oxygen into the engine
3:26for combustion. For those of you that
3:29like to pay real close attention to the
3:30onscreen telemetry, you saw this at T0
3:34during that first attempt. We command
3:35the engines to start up simultaneously.
3:37You get some slight differences as the
3:39engine adapts in real time, but you saw
3:41four not light up. So four out of 33.
3:44What exactly happened? We have a launch
3:47constraint built in where we can only be
3:49down two Raptor engines at liftoff. So
3:51the vehicle detected more than that were
3:53out. Automatically aborted before the
3:55final T0 safely shut down all of the
3:57engines that started up. We dug through
3:59the data and what we saw was some
4:01offnominal spin response in the ox turbo
4:04pumps on six of the engines. So the most
4:06likely root cause was determined we were
4:08collecting some moisture inside of the
4:10pumps from previous operations which
4:12then froze when we introduced that
4:14cryogenic propellant and that either
4:16slowed those pumps down or stopped them
4:18completely from spinning. So for this
4:21next flight attempt, we swapped in six
4:23engines that were already at Starbase
4:25and we did a test back on Wednesday that
4:27allowed us to check out the newly
4:29installed engines and spin the ox pumps
4:31on all 33 after they were chilled. check
4:34out their performance before we got into
4:36another launch attempt. We pulled a
4:38bunch of those engines off. As we said,
4:40we tested one on a test stand up at
4:42McGregor, help screen for any other
4:44issues that might be hiding, and that
4:46one was actually able to do a full
4:47booster ascent burn. So, got us in a
4:50good position for today. Even though we
4:52didn't get off the pad last week, we
4:54learned about the engines, the prop
4:55systems, how they perform in the flight
4:57environment, already going to drive some
4:59changes to make Starship real more
5:01reliable. We also got a real world test
5:04of an abort that's designed to take
5:06place at, you know, one of the most
5:08critical dynamic phases of flight. We
5:11safely shut down 29 running Raptor
5:14engines, safeguarded the vehicle and the
5:16pad. A mountain of work goes into
5:19designing aborts. You've got software,
5:21hardware engineers just dreaming up bad
5:23day scenarios, how we want the vehicle
5:25to respond just to give us the best
5:27possible path to maximize safety,
5:29preserve the mission and the hardware.
5:31So, we were able to do that. All right,
5:33that was then. This is now Flight 13's
5:35second attempt. So, things are looking
5:38really good at the moment. Just behind
5:40me here is the launch control center.
5:42Everybody's on console looking at the
5:44systems on board the vehicle and on the
5:46pad as we countd down to liftoff.
5:49Propellant load is underway. We slipped
5:52a little bit into our window as we
5:53waited for some last couple of things to
5:55settle out and we are targeting a
5:57liftoff at 5:51 p.m. Central time.
6:00weather today. You can see we've got
6:02blue skies. We're going to do a little
6:04weather corner here for a second. Uh
6:06because we were originally attempting to
6:08fly yesterday and we didn't because of
6:11we said weather. I want to be clear, the
6:13cause of not flying was visibility. Had
6:16nothing to do with launch weather
6:18constraints. One of the key goals of
6:20this flight is to get very clear imagery
6:22of the tiles on Starship as we're flying
6:24it at a higher dynamic pressure. You
6:27can't do that when you have clouds
6:28completely obscuring your view through
6:30all of those critical phases of assent.
6:33We're actually capable and legally
6:35allowed to launch into lightning because
6:38we've done a ton of testing, unique
6:41testing, analysis, studying aircraft
6:43capabilities and its design because
6:45that's ultimately the cadence we want to
6:47fly at, like an airplane. We're going to
6:49utilize that new capability carefully,
6:51but we're very aware if we want to fly
6:54Starship as often as you could fly an
6:55airplane, you're going to have to fly in
6:57weather that historically would keep
6:58rockets on the ground. So, we're doing
7:00that analysis. We're doing that testing
7:02to prepare for the future. Uh, aside
7:05from weather, we're watching the range
7:07both both in the Gulf right here off
7:09Star Base and in the Indian Ocean.
7:11That's currently green. We are not
7:12tracking any vehicle or pad issues that
7:15will preclude a launch today. Speaking
7:18of the pad, that launch infrastructure,
7:20it's every bit as complicated as the
7:22rocket itself. It's designed to operate
7:24in some of the most extreme conditions
7:27on Earth. In case you missed it, we had
7:29some pretty cool insight into what it
7:30takes to launch the most powerful rocket
7:32on the planet in the second episode of
7:35our ongoing documentary, Starship.
7:41[music]
7:49When we're only a week out from flight,
7:51my main focus is getting into flight.
7:54[music]
7:56The thing that separates us from a lot
7:57of other companies is that we we test
8:00fast [music] and we test often. And that
8:02includes launches. We want to make sure
8:04the vehicle is all ready to go. We want
8:05to make sure the ground's all ready to
8:06go. But we also don't want to be caught
8:08in analysis paralysis. Our main
8:11objective today is a [music] 10 engine
8:13static fire [snorts]
8:18aboard
8:20one. Looks like we kicked out due to two
8:21combusters from the Apex Bank being
8:23piled.
8:24>> There was a [music] padside aboard
8:26pulled. These things were holding like 5
8:306,000 tons of propellant plus the rocket
8:33weight and it's like okay well why
8:35didn't you guys simulate that? It's like
8:37well cuz we didn't have anything that
8:38weighed that much. Like this is the
8:39first time we put anything on it that
8:41weighed that much. So there's just so
8:42much that you have to think about and
8:44then be very paranoid on.
8:51>> We kicked out early all teams triage
8:53alerts. Prepare for offlin.
8:54>> We actually had another padort on the
8:56diverter.
8:56>> Basically right during engine firing it
8:59was so much noise and vibration that it
9:02actually shook the sensors that are
9:03located out in this area enough that
9:05they were aborted us [music] out of the
9:07test.
9:12We went back obviously afterwards and
9:14looked at all the data and tried to come
9:15up with smarter ways to basically still
9:18protect the integrity of the diverter
9:20throughout the operation while changing
9:22our parameters so that we were making
9:24sure that we would not abort again.
9:27A flame diverter is like a super simple
9:29concept that is like not at all
9:31complicated in operation and is just
9:32absolutely murderous in the details.
9:35These are extremely sophisticated
9:37thermal load sensing devices. If they
9:40turn into melted metal slag, then you
9:42know that uh you got too much heat. If
9:44you melt this, you're hotter than
9:46aluminum melts. If you melt this, you're
9:48hotter than zinc melts. If you melt
9:49this, you're hotter than copper melts.
9:51If you melt this, you're hotter than
9:52Sharpie melts. [snorts] So, we're sub
9:55Sharpie.
9:59We have all of this mass flow, all of
10:00this energy that is just absolutely
10:02trying to obliterate our pad. We want to
10:04give it a thing to obliterate to keep
10:07from obliterating the things that we
10:08care about. And the thing we give it is
10:10water.
10:17The amount of energy that water can
10:18absorb is is like miraculous. And so if
10:21you can get high enough pressure water
10:22in the right places and just allow it to
10:24to flash boil that water, then it solves
10:27a lot of the problems for you. Like the
10:28idea is that the steel never gets that
10:30hot. the structures never get that hot
10:31cuz the water absorbs all that energy,
10:32turns the steam, and and everything's
10:34okay.
10:36>> So, for this flame deflector on pad 2,
10:38we're sitting somewhere in the
10:39neighborhood of about 650,000 gallons
10:42per minute.
10:45That's approximately in the range of
10:47about like one entire Olympic swimming
10:49pool being drained in the course of a
10:52minute.
10:56you're trying to look into this thing
10:58and you see how a glowing hot it is.
11:00It's it's just uh yeah a pretty
11:02impossible environment to keep something
11:04happy in. But and you zoom in and the
11:07flame deflector's still there. So that's
11:08the reason we we build those things.
11:16Putting the rocket into human terms is
11:18something really tough. 65,000 pounds
11:21per second of propellant that is coming
11:23out of the engines. And again, just like
11:2418 million pounds of thrust, like what
11:26does that number mean? I think of like
11:2711 Ford F-150 trucks per second just
11:30zipping out of the bottom of the rocket.
11:31It's like imagine if you had the world's
11:32biggest machine gun except for instead
11:34of shooting bullets, it was shooting
11:35pickup trucks and it's just firing 11
11:36pickup trucks per second out of the
11:38bottom of the rocket. It's like, do you
11:39think your stuff could survive that?
11:44And it is so satisfying to watch the
11:46slow motion flame diverter uh shots,
11:50>> right? And just hear all the exciting
11:51stories of how we tackle these problems
11:53out here in Starbase. Super exciting.
11:55>> Yeah. And by the way, if that looks like
11:57fun to you, come join our team. We are
12:00seeking scrappy problem solvers to help
12:02us build the future. Okay, let's go meet
12:05the rocket out on the pad, Starship
12:07version 3. It's the most powerful rocket
12:10ever developed and ever flown. And it's
12:12also the tallest at just over 407 ft
12:16tall, fully stacked. It is massive.
12:19Standing at the base and looking up is
12:21like looking up at a 40story building.
12:23Incredible.
12:24>> Yes, it's a two two-stage rocket. Both
12:27stages are designed to return to Earth
12:29and fly again, making that thing that
12:31you see on your screen the first fully
12:34reusable rocket ever. The bottom half or
12:36the first stage is the Superheavy
12:38booster. That's the silver part. It's
12:41powered by 33 of our newest iteration,
12:44you see them there on your screen now,
12:45Raptor 3 engines. They run on liquid
12:48methane and oxygen. And this version of
12:51Raptor provides a significant increase
12:54in thrust. With that additional thrust,
12:57uh, as you can see here by these
12:58comparisons, the version that we're
13:00launching today, version three on the
13:02far right, that version of Starship gets
13:05off the pad much faster than our
13:07previous versions. The one on the far
13:08left is, I believe, is actually our
13:10flight one footage. And in comparison,
13:12they really just go.
13:13>> Yep. And now, Super Heavy has three grid
13:16fins, which you can think of as
13:17aerodynamic rudders. You see them on
13:19your screen now. They help steer during
13:21landing. They're 50% larger than on
13:24previous booster versions and are
13:25designed to support rapid reuse and a
13:27more stable atmospheric re-entry.
13:29>> I love that shot there. And at the top
13:31of the booster, we've got the hot stage
13:33adapter. It's it's designed to protect
13:36the booster during separation and now
13:38it's fully integrated for reusability.
13:41>> And stacked right above that is our
13:42upper stage of the rocket or stage two.
13:44It's what we call ship. It's powered by
13:46six Raptor engines, three optimized to
13:48sea level performance and three for the
13:50vacuum of space.
13:52>> Ship's design could one day enable
13:54point-to-point transfer on Earth,
13:56meaning you could travel anywhere on the
13:58planet in an hour or less. Sounds pretty
14:00great to me.
14:01>> Sounds awesome. It's designed to carry
14:04massive orbital payloads, both cargo and
14:06crew to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars, and
14:10beyond.
14:10>> And for the first time, we are carrying
14:13real Starlink V3 satellites to space.
14:15For more on that, let's head out to
14:17California where Tyler is standing by
14:19with the team in Hawthorne. How's it
14:21going, Tyler?
14:22>> We're doing great over here, Nate. Thank
14:24you both. I'm Tyler Lionquist and I'm a
14:26Starlink business analyst here at
14:28SpaceX. Now, for those who of you who
14:30have been following along, the Starling
14:32version 3 satellites have been designed
14:34to take full advantage of Starship's
14:35payload capacity. And we're going to get
14:37our first look at those satellites
14:39today. The Starling V3 is our nextG
14:42satellite, and it includes meaningful
14:44increases in capacity, data density, and
14:46power generation. So, we'll be adding
14:49around 20 times the capacity into the
14:51constellation on each Starship mission
14:53as compared to the version two
14:54satellites that we launch on Falcon.
14:56[snorts] And that means that we'll be
14:57able to serve more people all around the
14:59world and with increasingly better
15:01high-speed internet. Like all Starlink
15:03satellites, the V3s are built at
15:05Starlink site in Redmond, Washington,
15:07where we already build more satellites
15:09than anyone else in the world today.
15:11Now, the V3 SATs are designed to support
15:141 TB per second of down link and 160
15:17Gbits per second of uplink capacity.
15:20That's approximately a 10 times
15:21improvement in down link capacity and
15:23around a 22 times increase in uplink
15:26capacity from the version 2 Starlink
15:27satellite. Serving this capacity to and
15:30from customers are the satellites
15:31upgraded phased array antennas. The
15:33upgraded phased arrays are fed by
15:35SpaceX's in-house developed chips that
15:37were designed to serve customers more
15:39efficiently in both densely and sparsely
15:41populated regions simultaneously. And
15:44each Starling V3 satellite is also
15:45equipped with six high-capacity 400 Gbit
15:48space lasers. Now, these six lasers will
15:50allow high bandwidth traffic to flow
15:52uninterrupted between any two points in
15:54the world with redundant paths across a
15:57pedit laser mesh network. And if that
15:59wasn't enough, the V3s will carry four
16:01quadband radio frequency back hole
16:03antennas. And these will take advantage
16:05of the K A, E, V, and W communication
16:08bands, allowing for an eight times
16:10improvement in supported capacity
16:12compared to the V2 SATs. And that's a
16:15lot of growth in capacity and
16:16capability. And as such, the new
16:18satellite design requires more power. So
16:21the solar arrays on V3 will generate
16:23approximately twice as much power as the
16:25current arrays that we fly on the V2
16:26satellites. And they're also optimized
16:28to reduce drag in the lower orbital
16:30altitudes in which these new satellites
16:32will operate. But before we
16:34operationalize these satellites, we want
16:36to put them in a flight-like
16:37environment. These satellites were
16:39loaded into Starship last week ahead of
16:41that first attempt. And once deployed,
16:43the Starlink team will only have about
16:4520 minutes of flight to speedrun some of
16:47these tests before the SAT's demise in
16:49the atmosphere. The team will attempt to
16:52run tests such as extending the new
16:54solar arrays and antennas, connecting
16:56with ground stations, and turning on the
16:58satellites communication systems. And
17:00this is all part of SpaceX's iterative
17:02process to technology advancement. From
17:05the very beginning, Starlink was
17:06designed to scale rapidly and improve
17:08continuously. From production to launch
17:10and ground infrastructure, Starlink is
17:12uniquely positioned to keep pace with
17:14rising demand around the world. In fact,
17:16just last week, we rolled out the next
17:18generation Starlink kit, the V5, which
17:20is built for reliable highspeed home
17:22internet.
17:26Heat. Heat.
18:08All right, you heard from Tyler, a lot
18:09of work going on with Starlink. We've
18:11also started development on an entirely
18:13new satellite constellation, Star Mind,
18:16our AI satellites. I got to sit down
18:18with Elon and Starlink's director of
18:20satellite engineering, Ian Dah. We
18:22covered a whole bunch of stuff really
18:24focused on what are the three limiting
18:25factors to making data centers in space
18:28reality. First one we talked about was
18:30mass to orbit. That's where Starship
18:32comes in. We're going to need megat tons
18:34into low earth orbit and we're going to
18:36be combining its full reusability and
18:38the really big payload capacity to
18:40launch the number of satellites that
18:42we're talking about because we plan to
18:44deploy up to a million AI satellites and
18:47those are going to function as those
18:48orbital data centers using Starship for
18:51the high volume lowcost launches. Couple
18:54of really key reasons why moving data
18:55centers to space has advantages over
18:58building them here on Earth, which gets
19:00into our second limiting factor, which
19:02is power generation. It's always sunny
19:04in space. Satellites can harness that
19:07sun, that near constant solar energy,
19:10uh, which is really going to be the only
19:12way to scale if AI continues to grow at
19:14the pace that we see, especially when
19:16you contrast it with all of the
19:17challenges that you have here on Earth.
19:20Within about two to three years, we
19:21believe space-based AI compute is going
19:24to become the lowest cost option. As
19:26those launch costs continue to drop and
19:28Earthbased constraints continue to grow,
19:30it's going to just transform how Earth
19:33powers AI, unlocks the future. Uh, and
19:36then our third limiting factor that we
19:38got to go figure out is going to be
19:39chips. And we got to do that fast. And
19:41that's what we're doing with Terra Fab.
19:43That's going to be the most epic chip
19:45building effort ever. not just
19:48turnurning out really cool advanced
19:50chips, but also building a massive scale
19:53uh location to do it. We're talking 100
19:55million square feet, so about 10 Tesla
19:58gigafactories.
20:00All of this together sounds a bit
20:03fantastical, a bit out there, but these
20:04are real steps that we are taking right
20:07now that are going to set us up to
20:09eventually become a galactic
20:10civilization. That sounds really cool.
20:13Uh, I mean, harnessing meaningful
20:15amounts of power from the sun,
20:16supporting all of those AI applications
20:18that are going to change our daily lives
20:20and making humanity a multilanetary
20:23species. If you want to learn more, you
20:24can watch the full conversation on our
20:26website. Hopefully, a link appears on
20:28the screen. If not, go look up Star
20:30Mind. Uh, so the future's looking pretty
20:32sweet, but first things first, we've got
20:34flight 13 ahead. Let's jump down to Kate
20:37and Nate for what's ahead.
20:39>> Thanks, Dan. Yeah, the future is built
20:41on progressive steps like today's test.
20:44So, let's dive into the flight profile
20:46that we're going to see today.
20:47>> That's right. We've got an exciting day
20:48in store. So, starting with liftoff,
20:51Super Heavy will ignite those 33 Raptor
20:533 engines right off of pad 2 here in
20:55Starbase. We will then power through
20:57ascent ahead of hot stage separation
20:59where the booster will shut down all but
21:01five engines at the bottom. Stage 2 will
21:04then light its own Raptor engines,
21:06pushing off from Super Heavy and
21:07starting our stage separation maneuver
21:09known as hot staging. You'll then have
21:11the directional booster flip using 33
21:14engines. And after coasting for a few
21:16minutes, the booster today will target a
21:17landing burn and ocean splashdown a few
21:20miles off the coast of Starbase. Ship is
21:22going to keep the party going with its
21:24ascent burn to a suborbital trajectory
21:26followed by deployment of those 20
21:28Starlink V3 satellites. We also plan to
21:31relight a single Raptor engine. Re-entry
21:33is just a few minutes later, which
21:35should provide some amazing views thanks
21:37to Starlink. And uh typically we see
21:40some pretty fantastic views of of the
21:42ship's blistering re-entry through the
21:44Earth's atmosphere. A plasma blanket
21:46will form around the vehicle. It never
21:47prevails to fight provide epic scenes.
21:50And lastly, we'll conclude today's test
21:51with a landing flip, a landing burn, and
21:53a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. And
21:56with that, let's kick it over to Dan for
21:58a countdown update. Thanks, Kate. Uh,
22:00good news. We just heard from the flight
22:02director. We are t-minus 10 minutes.
22:04We're a little bit past that now. Not
22:05tracking any issues for launch today.
22:08Range continues to be green. Our range
22:10team hard at work making sure we're
22:12clear out in the Gulf and in the Indian
22:14Ocean where we're going to be sending
22:15the Starship. Weather continues to be
22:17gorgeous. Again, no clouds. We scrubbed
22:20our attempt yesterday or didn't even try
22:22yesterday because we had such poor
22:24visibility. Weren't going to be able to
22:26see those tiles on the way up. That's a
22:28key kind of experiment objective for
22:30this flight today. Um, and so we're
22:32looking really good with weather today.
22:34Uh, in the future, we'll see what kind
22:37of adverse weather we can fly into. We
22:39are capable and allowed to launch into
22:41lightning. Uh, but we're going to
22:43utilize that new capability carefully as
22:45we eventually continue to evolve
22:47Starship to fly it at an airplane like
22:49Cadence. Uh, you can see the prop load
22:51there on your screen. We're just about
22:53closed out on the main tanks on the
22:55ship. We just started propellant load in
22:57the header tanks on Starship. Those are
22:59the two smaller ones up top that we'll
23:01hopefully be using for the inspace burn
23:03and a landing burn at the end of its
23:05mission. We started loading our
23:07propellant at about tminus 35 minutes
23:10today and we're going to continue all
23:11the way down until we're inside 3
23:14minutes to launch. We'll close out at
23:16about tminus 2 minutes and 50 seconds on
23:18booster and then 2 minutes and 10
23:20seconds on the ship. So, at the moment,
23:23we're looking good. that launch time
23:255:51 p.m. Central, a couple of minutes
23:27into our uh window today. Uh so we'll be
23:31back real soon. Toss it back down to
23:32Kate and Nate. Thanks, Dan. Recently
23:35NASA announced the astronauts for the
23:38upcoming Artemis 3 mission. The Aremis 3
23:40mission is a crude demonstration mission
23:42in low Earth orbit designed to
23:44demonstrate critical systems needed for
23:47future lunar landings. astronauts Andre
23:50Douglas, Luca Pararmatano, Randy
23:52Breznik, and Frank Rubio, as seen there
23:55on your screen. They will crew the
23:56mission, and it's slated for 2027.
23:59>> It's a great crew, and it's also the pen
24:01ultimate mission, the final test before
24:03Artemis 4 attempts to put astronaut
24:05boots back on the moon for the first
24:07time since 1972.
24:10We'll be launching a Starship with a
24:11docking port on the nose, so we can
24:13practice rendevous and docking with the
24:15crew. And one key test objective comes
24:18after docking where we will be able to
24:20test out maneuverability of the vehicles
24:22together while in space. This has the
24:26new importance as the revamped plan for
24:28lunar landings use Starship to do the
24:30burn sending astronauts to the moon from
24:33Earth orbit. And one other cool ad, NASA
24:36is putting two SpaceX mini lasers on
24:39Orion to connect it to our Starlink
24:41constellation with the goal of enabling
24:434K imagery and video from the spacecraft
24:46while in space. So that's going to be
24:48pretty awesome to see.
24:49>> Awesome views for sure.
24:50>> Yeah, there's lots of excitement planned
24:52for next year as we all work together to
24:54send humans back to the moon. And
24:56speaking of sending humans to space,
24:58former SpaceXer and current NASA
25:00astronaut Anneil Menon is actually up on
25:02the space station right now as part of
25:04Expedition 74. And he captured these
25:07sweet photos of Starbase during an ISS
25:09flyover. Hi, Anneil. We're all waving
25:11back at you, buddy. It's awesome to see
25:13the whole picture here. Uh, as there's
25:16lots of facility and infrastructure
25:17development going on. Um, but Starbase
25:19isn't alone on that front.
25:20>> Yep. It changes every day. But talking
25:23about other locations, work is well
25:25underway in Florida to get pads 39A and
25:28slick 37A ready for future Starship
25:30launches potentially later this year.
25:33Starship launches from Cape Canaveral
25:34are key to hit the necessary launch
25:36cadence to get back to the moon, build a
25:38moon base, head to Mars, all the
25:41exciting stuff ahead in the future.
25:43>> Yeah, exactly. And that future gets
25:45closer and closer with test like tests
25:48like today's flight. And with that, we
25:50are just under 6 minutes until launch.
25:53So that brings us to terminal count.
25:55Excitement is definitely gaining
25:56traction down here as the crowd is
25:58gathering just behind us on the lawn
26:00outside. And happy to say still not a
26:02cloud in the sky. Dan, how are things up
26:04at mission control?
26:05>> Things are still looking really good,
26:07Kate. We are still not tracking any
26:10holds on the board. No issues with the
26:12vehicle or with the pad. Our range
26:14continues to be green both in the Gulf
26:17and out in the Indian Ocean for flight
26:19today. Uh we'll continue monitoring that
26:22all the way down to the final minutes.
26:25We are going to be closing out our
26:26propellant loading on the booster and
26:28the ship within the next 3 minutes. Uh
26:31we're going to have about 11 12 million
26:34pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid
26:36methane on both of those stages. Once
26:38we're all done, then it'll be time for
26:40the pad to essentially ready itself. um
26:43where we clear out all of the prop
26:45that's been flowing through feed lines
26:47up into the launch mount up into the
26:49tower. Those go back into the propellant
26:51farm, get it ready, and we'll do those
26:53final thrust vector control, those
26:55steering checks, uh as we get a little
26:57bit closer. If we need to hold that hold
27:00time, it's new for this launch, and we
27:03saw it briefly on our attempt last week.
27:06Uh that hold is set at Tminus 60
27:08seconds. Now, that's where we can pause.
27:11We can wait if we need to just kind of
27:14hang out for any pressurizations,
27:16anything like that to clear. Uh, we've
27:18got a couple of minutes to hang there.
27:19We will only hold if there's an issue,
27:22and we're not tracking any holds on the
27:24board right now.
27:26>> That's right. Now, once T-minus 60
27:28seconds passes, a number of events will
27:31occur in rapid succession. Both the ship
27:33and booster will configure their comm
27:35systems for flight and they will rapidly
27:37run leak checks on gas and fluid tanks.
27:40Meanwhile, the booster will be going
27:42into internal power and its engines will
27:44get their final priming for launch.
27:46Those ship engines will also begin their
27:48ascent bleed profile and it will arm its
27:50automatic flight safety system. There's
27:52a lot of mechanical activations on the
27:54tower side as well with one critical
27:56step being unlatching of the quick
27:58disconnect feeding propellant into the
28:00ship. And once t-minus 60 seconds has
28:04passed, we still have the ability to
28:06rapidly recycle the count under certain
28:08conditions back to that tus 60 seconds
28:12point and hold there to assess what
28:14happened and if teams can proceed once
28:16again to t0. There's an estimated 5 to 8
28:20minutes of hold time and that's largely
28:22driven by the propellant temperatures
28:24that we see on the vehicle while holding
28:27the flame diverter on pad 2. You can see
28:29it there at the base of Starship that
28:32activates at tminus 17 seconds. Now, if
28:35we hold if excuse me, if we trigger a
28:37hold after t-minus 17 seconds, that will
28:40result in a scrub for the day as we've
28:43already turned on the water. Now, for
28:45those that have just recently tuned in,
28:47once again, uh our primary test
28:50objectives for today's test flight
28:52includes a successful liftoff, stage
28:54separation. Uh we also plan to deploy 20
28:58Starlink V3 satellites. We have real
29:01satellites on board. We expect to have
29:03about 20 minutes of available time to
29:06speedrun some tests uh and really put
29:08allow the Starlink engineers to put them
29:10to the test in that time.
29:11>> That's right. And we also have the soft
29:13splashdowns planned for both the booster
29:15and the ship. Going to be super exciting
29:18to see if we can return those safely
29:19back so that way we can get ready for
29:21tower catches again.
29:25And just a quick check in, we got our
29:27final green light from the range. Not
29:30tracking any issues on ascent or out in
29:33the Indian Ocean for entry. So that was
29:37kind of a final go for flight that we
29:39wait for in these final minutes.
29:42Prop load now closing out on both
29:44vehicles. We have no holds on the board.
29:48Again, that we've got that gate at
29:50T-minus one minute. We're only going to
29:52hold if there's a reason. And currently
29:54there are no reasons.
29:57>> Coming up here in a few seconds, we
29:59should have Oh, actually right there we
30:01can see on screen. That's the base of
30:03the Super Heavy booster. Those are the
30:0533 Raptor engines. And we expect to see
30:08the And there they go. The TVC
30:10checkouts, also known as engine wiggles.
30:12We're activating those thrust vector
30:14control actuators to ensure that those
30:17center engines and the inner radius as
30:20well have the ability to steer the
30:23rocket.
30:23>> Yep. Super cool to see how fast those
30:26move. I mean, in flight, it's it's
30:28amazing to see how it steers the
30:29vehicle. And we're coming up on that
30:31tminus one minute now on on our
30:34countdown. So, let's listen in to see if
30:36we pass that gate.
30:51All right, we are through the gate.
30:54Still no holds on the board. 50 seconds
30:57to go. Starship getting ready to fly.
31:19Flight tractors go for launch.
31:36- 9. 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
31:51What's that?
32:09Vehicle is pitching down range.
32:12Booster Raptor chamber pressure is
32:13nominal.
32:2030 seconds into flight. 33 out of 33
32:24Raptor engines lit on the Super Heavy
32:26booster arcing away from us here at
32:28Starbase.
32:36Coming up on Max Q, maximum aerodynamic
32:39pressure, which again for this flight is
32:41going to be higher than it has been on
32:43any of our previous Starship flights.
32:55>> Maximum aerodynamic pressure over a
32:57minute now into flight. Still seeing 33
33:01out of 33 Raptor engines lit and
33:04burning.
33:06Our next major moment's going to be
33:08coming up in just a little over a minute
33:11from now when we're going to get to hot
33:13staging. We're going to shut down all
33:15but five of those engines on the
33:18booster. It's our version of MOO. Most
33:20engines cut off and then we're going to
33:23ignite the six engines on the ship uh to
33:27while it is still attached to do that
33:29separation. As a reminder, we try to do
33:32a directional flip. So, when you watch
33:35on your screen, we're hopefully going to
33:37be sending that booster towards the
33:39bottom of the frame. For the booster
33:40itself, it's like doing a flip up. It'll
33:43go towards the bottom of your frame. We
33:45do that by lighting the engines in a
33:47slightly staggered sequence.
33:55Standing by for hot staging.
34:11All but five engines down.
34:17>> Six ignite.
34:18>> Start up.
34:28And the booster now doing its boost back
34:30burn. It looks like we lit all 33
34:32initially. Now we're down to 13. We're
34:34seeing six out of six Raptors lit on the
34:37ship.
34:44>> Back burn shutdown
34:49>> and boost back burn shutdown. So looks
34:52like we were able to get through the
34:53boost back burn this time around. It was
34:55one of the key objectives we didn't have
34:57on the last flight.
35:00>> And we've got six engines lit on the
35:02ship.
35:06>> All right. So, that's the the first of
35:09two burns that the booster is going to
35:11be doing to kind of send it back towards
35:13us. Uh it's going to be landing a couple
35:16of miles offshore from Star Base.
35:18Hopefully, we're going to try and get it
35:19all the way down to do a landing burn
35:22>> where we're going to use those 13 center
35:24engines. They're going to ignite. That's
35:26what's going to really bleed off all
35:28that velocity that it's built up and
35:30it'll eventually hopefully transition to
35:32five engines to kind of fine-tune its
35:35path in and then all the way down to
35:37three for the remaining bit.
35:42>> All right, we've got a couple of minutes
35:44to go until we get there. So booster is
35:47going to coast for a little bit. Ship
35:49still seeing six out of six Raptor
35:51engines lit. Four minutes into the
35:54flight. Ship's got about four minutes
35:55left. Getting some killer views. Kate,
35:58Nate, how was the view from out from
36:01down there?
36:02>> Uh, it was incredible. [laughter] I
36:04mean, it just shot off the pad and
36:06seeing all the crowd now running back
36:08inside to take views on the screen here.
36:11It's It was amazing.
36:12>> Yeah. One of these days I'm gonna learn
36:14to not stare at the engines because now
36:16I have a bright blob in my vision. Um,
36:20now speaking of vision, we could see uh
36:22both stages there on your screen.
36:24Starship second stage is still firing
36:26its engines. You can follow along with
36:29that with the guey down on the bottom
36:31right hand side of your uh screen.
36:35Still following the planned flight path
36:37as well. Beautiful views of planet Earth
36:40there behind the ship.
36:44That's right. And we're actually getting
36:45a live shot off the booster right now.
36:48An onboard camera. [laughter]
36:50>> You can see the plume from Starbase
36:52where it just lifted off 5 minutes ago.
36:54>> Nominal trajectory.
36:57>> We are there. We are there. That is us.
37:00>> I kind of want to run back outside and
37:01wave.
37:03>> Right now. Again, this booster is not
37:06planning to come back to the tower or
37:08the launch site for this particular
37:10launch. We are going to be planning to
37:12do an ocean splashdown just off the
37:14coast of Starbase. So hoping to still
37:16get some amazing views of that.
37:23>> Pretty awesome to see the Raptor engines
37:25there on the left hand side of your
37:27screen. We can actually see the plume
37:29there uh of those center Raptors. Those
37:33uh those are the sea level ones uh as
37:35well as the vacuum raptors are the three
37:38on the larger ones on the uh outer
37:40radius.
37:46Now just like on tower catches we are
37:48going to be doing a 13 engine landing
37:51burn to slow the booster down. Hopefully
37:53we can get a live camera of the booster
37:55right now as we're going into that
37:58phase. Awesome shot. You can see it
38:00there. So right now the booster is using
38:03their three hypersonic grid fins to
38:05guide itself through the atmosphere
38:07toward its landing site. You can see
38:09we're only 5 km above the sea right
38:11here.
38:12>> Start.
38:15>> Just heard the call out for landing burn
38:17startup for the booster.
38:21[cheering and applause]
38:24>> I have a feeling the crowd's about to go
38:25wild here. [applause]
38:31And another awesome landing for Super
38:33Heavy. Congratulations to all the teams
38:36here at Starbase and at our SpaceX team.
38:39An amazing amazing view. [applause]
38:45>> Everything continues to go well with
38:47ship as you can see there on your
38:49screen.
38:55Yeah, we've got about a minute left with
38:58the ship engines on. Just looking at the
39:00booster real quick. It didn't look like
39:02we lit all 13 engines that we were
39:05planning for that initial landing burn.
39:07We were targeting a softer splash down
39:09and as you saw, it came in with quite a
39:11bit of velocity still. So, uh, landing
39:14velocity did look a little bit high. Um,
39:18but really cool to make it all the way
39:20back this time to that landing burn.
39:22We'll dig in, uh, figure out how to turn
39:24on all those engines
39:26>> and then get to a full landing soon. But
39:29all eyes on ship. We are just a little
39:33ways away from getting those engines
39:36turn off. We expected to burn about 8
39:38minutes and change
39:40>> and so hopefully just about 15 minutes
39:42to go.
39:44Sounds like we just got the sonic boom.
39:47here at Star from the booster splash
39:50down
39:52[applause]
39:55>> and engine shut down.
40:06All right, Starship 6 Raptor engines
40:08have successfully shut down.
40:12>> Nominal orbit insertion.
40:14And there's our call out for nominal
40:16orbit insertion. So, we got a ship in
40:19space. We've got a booster in the Gulf
40:22where we were planning to send it. It's
40:24a hell of a start to the day, Kate.
40:26>> Yeah, it sure is. Uh all of our
40:29colleagues here are filing in through
40:31the doors. A lot of people wanted to
40:32stay outside and uh hear the boom. And
40:35so, uh it's pretty great to see a ship
40:37in space. And everybody's super excited
40:40down here.
40:40>> That's right. And as guaranteed, it has
40:43been an awesome day so far. All this
40:45action in just 9 minutes now. And
40:49objectives are done for the booster.
40:51Just want to quickly flag that that
40:53booster did land in a clear zone. We
40:56clear those before launch well ahead so
40:58that we ensure everyone is safe before
41:00the launch and after. So, we're getting
41:03ready now for our in space objectives.
41:06>> Yeah, we've got a few minutes until the
41:07next milestone. So sit tight and enjoy
41:10the space views and of course the space
41:12jams. We'll be back here at t plus4
41:15minutes to deploy our payload which is
41:1820 of our newest Starlink version 3
41:20satellites. So we'll see you soon.
41:27[music]
41:33[music]
41:40>> [music]
42:03>> Ship FTS is saved.
42:10>> [music]
42:33>> Hey, hey, hey.
43:02[music] Heat.
43:14[music]
43:19[music]
43:25Heat.
43:30>> [music]
43:32>> Yeah.
43:43[music]
43:51[music]
43:55Ah.
43:58Heat. Heat. N.
44:02[music]
44:08Heat. Heat. N.
44:24Heat. Heat.
45:05Heat. Heat.
45:20Heat. Heat.
45:44Welcome back. If you're just joining us,
45:46we're getting ready to deploy 20
45:48Starlink version 3 satellites. That will
45:51get underway after we open the payload
45:53door in just about a minute. Now, for
45:56those of you that perhaps missed the
45:59previous 14 minutes, uh this is the
46:01second flight of Starship version 3.
46:03This is flight 13. It lifted off. It had
46:06a beautiful ascent as well as a ship
46:09ignition and stage separation. It was
46:12literally picture perfect from here at
46:14Starbase.
46:14>> Picture perfect. And then we continued
46:16with that booster hot stage separation.
46:19Amazing to see some live replays of
46:21that. And of course the booster
46:24performing its own boost back and
46:25landing.
46:26>> Yeah. Ship continued for about 8 minutes
46:28with all six of its engines and made it
46:31the second engine cutoff where we heard
46:33good orbital insertion and we've been
46:34coasting in space for the last few
46:36minutes. Now we're getting ready to
46:38deploy our very first real Starlink
46:41version 3 satellites. The door will be
46:44opening here in just about 6 seconds
46:46from now.
46:48Now, we won't have the same views as we
46:51did on flight 12 of our payload. We
46:54don't have those cameras on board these
46:57Starship version 3es. That was a Dodger
46:59dog exclusive, but we will be able to
47:02see them deploy from the ship.
47:17As Kate said, we should see the door
47:19open up really soon if we haven't quite
47:23gotten it open already.
47:26We've got 20 of these Starlink V3
47:29satellites. Looks like the PEZ door is
47:31open.
47:35And so, yeah, this these are the this is
47:38the first time we've got Starlink V3
47:40satellites getting ready to go into
47:42space. And I mean, these things are
47:45really just kind of crazy upgrades that
47:48they're going to bring to the network
47:50where you start talking about just
47:52symmetric gigabit speeds through the
47:54Starlink network pretty much anywhere on
47:56the planet that this is going to unlock.
47:58Um, so really exciting. These are these
48:00satellites are only going to be in space
48:02for about 20 minutes.
48:10Sorry about that. Uh these will only be
48:12in space for about 20 minutes as they're
48:15on the same suborbital trajectory as
48:17Starship itself. This is essentially
48:20just giving us a chance to try and run
48:22as many tests as possible. Uh deploy the
48:26solar arrays, antennas, whatever we can
48:28on these vehicles. Uh we are
48:31intentionally being a little scrappy
48:32with it. They might be playing some
48:34bumper cars once they're out of the
48:35door. Uh but we are looking to get these
48:39deployed uh over the next couple of
48:42minutes. In the in the meantime, they're
48:45getting ready to uh also do the Raptor
48:48in space relight. Listening to a little
48:50bit of conversation on that, but we are
48:53currently tracking to do it. I'll give
48:55you some updates if we hear otherwise.
49:00[applause]
49:01And there you go.
49:04You can see our first Starlink V3
49:07getting deployed out of Starship.
49:10[applause]
49:11Huge milestone for the team out here.
49:15Yeah, the crowd is definitely hyped
49:17about this. We could see these Starlink
49:19V3s [cheering] continuing [applause] to
49:21pop out with uh deployment assisted by
49:24the PEZ dispenser. Now, this version of
49:27Starship is built to deploy up to 60 of
49:30these more advanced Starlink version 3
49:32satellites. Each V3 is designed to offer
49:361 terabit per second of DLink capacity.
49:39Now, let's put that into Falcon 9 terms
49:41real quick. A Starship launch with V3
49:44satellites will launch 20 times the
49:47capacity into the constellation as a
49:50single launch of V2 satellites on Falcon
49:539. Just incredible. And anybody that
49:56follows Starship, you know that the
49:59views that we're being treated to right
50:00now, the views we get during those
50:02re-entries, that's made possible by
50:05Starlink. It's given us just this
50:07unprecedented look into Starship as it's
50:11flying through space, hurdling through
50:12the atmosphere. Um, it's powering the
50:15dozens of cameras we have on board. It's
50:18giving us real time data on every system
50:21that's telemetred on board that vehicle
50:23in real time. We use the exact same
50:27constellation to power all of our
50:29cameras that we have out in the field
50:31here in the Indian Ocean. Um, so really
50:35powerful technology for just connecting
50:38you no matter where the heck you are on
50:39the planet, off the planet. Um, so thank
50:43you Starlink for letting me watch this
50:46stuff as we fly through space. It's
50:47pretty awesome. Uh, we get about 240
50:51megabits per second of data rate off
50:54Starship, which everybody in the
50:57spaceflight community knows that's
50:58pretty insane uh, when you're usually
51:00dealing with single digits uh, on some
51:02of the older systems. So, gives you a
51:05lot of insight, gives you a lot of
51:06ability to just rapidly iterate, know
51:08what the heck happened uh, when things
51:10go wrong. But looks like we're seeing
51:13some more satellites get out the door.
51:16Uh we do have cameras on some of them.
51:20Uh the last couple that are going to go
51:21out are going to try and do the heat
51:24shield imaging that we attempted last
51:26flight. We don't have that camera view
51:29that we got on flight 12 where you kind
51:33of see the satellite leaving Starship.
51:35Those aren't on the V3 satellites. Uh,
51:37but we are going to on the last couple
51:39that go out have some pretty narrow
51:41field view cameras that are going to be
51:43looking back at Starship, turn on some
51:45flashlights. And this is a test of a
51:48capability that we're really going to
51:49want uh when we start doing orbital
51:52flights to just add that extra layer of
51:55safety, that extra layer of reliability
51:57where we're going to be able to image
51:59Starship's heat shield after it's gone
52:02through assent, after it's been in space
52:04before it re-enters. So, we're going to
52:06try to test that again today. Uh, the
52:09heat shield imaging, we didn't get a
52:11whole lot last time. Looks like we got
52:12some thunderstorms on planet Earth below
52:15us. Uh, but couple more satellites to
52:18go, it looks like.
52:20>> Yeah, it's pretty awesome to see our V3s
52:24in space. I want to give a shout out to
52:26our Starlink colleagues.
52:28Now, we expect uh payload deploy to run
52:31until about 27 and 12 minutes. So about
52:34another 7 minutes here.
52:37The Starlink team will be attempting to
52:40speedrun these tests or excuse me,
52:42speedrun test these version 3 satellites
52:45where they will attempt to do a
52:47[applause] few tests such as extend the
52:50new solar arrays and antennas. Um
52:52they're also going to try and connect
52:54these V3 satellites with ground stations
52:58and turn on the satellites communication
53:00systems.
53:03Now, they're only going to have about 20
53:05minutes or so to do all of this as these
53:08satellites uh only have that long before
53:11they demise in the atmosphere or break
53:14up um due to that friction when they uh
53:18uh re-enter the atmosphere. So, what we
53:20learn from today's deployment will help
53:22progress um and move the program
53:25forward, which is super exciting. uh you
53:28could basically say that the payload's
53:31payload is data. Uh like [laughter]
53:34we're getting very inception here. Uh
53:37now in addition to those tests for
53:40Starlink uh for the Starlink team, as
53:42Dan mentioned, six of the satellites
53:45have been modified with engineering
53:47cameras to help scan Starship's heat
53:50shield
53:52that will help inform our analysis of
53:54Starship's readiness for future catch
53:57returns back here at our launch site.
54:00So, for those that might be unfamiliar,
54:02we are currently capable of catching our
54:05super heavy booster. Um, and we've done
54:07that a couple times. We we have not yet
54:09attempted to catch our our second stage
54:12or ship. Um, and so that is uh going to
54:14be a very exciting milestone when that
54:16day comes
54:17>> for sure. And we're building up to it
54:18with today's test. We are still planning
54:21to do our water splashdown in the Indian
54:24Ocean. So stay tuned for that. That's
54:26only about 40 minutes away. But still in
54:29space, we keep on deploying our Starlink
54:32satellites.
54:34Again, these are our V3 version of our
54:36Starlink satellites. A whole host of
54:39added capabilities to our version two
54:41that's currently in orbit. [applause]
54:48[cheering]
54:50And this is our team here at Starbase
54:53Texas. [applause]
54:56>> These are all of the team members that
54:58have helped build the vehicle, that have
55:00built the PEZ dispenser and got it ready
55:03to fly today. Amazing work.
55:08>> Now, for those of you that have just
55:09recently tuned in, uh there is a
55:12spaceship in your screen, we promise. Uh
55:16right now the ship is in uh orbital
55:19darkness so we don't have any available
55:21sunlight from the sun to help illuminate
55:24the scene. Uh but what you can see uh
55:27moving out from that smallly lit space
55:30uh those are the V3 satellites as they
55:31are being deployed and essentially the
55:34ship is illuminated from the inside and
55:36so we're able to see the light come out
55:37through the payload door.
55:40>> Right. Just a just a really small sliver
55:43of light at the top. That's our PEZ
55:44dispenser. That's how we're both loading
55:47our satellites into the rocket and
55:49deploying it. It's pretty novel.
55:54We've got about 3 and 1/2 minutes still
55:57left of our payload deploy sequence.
56:02>> Yep. Looks like we've got 16 satellites
56:05deployed. So, four more to go.
56:08These last couple will have those
56:09cameras. So, if you see any sudden
56:13bright lights, that'll be flashlights
56:14turning on in on those satellites to try
56:16and uh get some imagery of Starship's
56:19heat shield. [applause and cheering]
56:2217 out the door.
56:25Three more to go and 18.
56:28[applause]
56:32[cheering]
56:36All right. And while while we wait for
56:38these last two, uh we did confirm we are
56:41still go for our Raptor relight
56:44demonstration a little bit later in the
56:46flight today. So we will be looking to
56:48relight one of those Raptor engines on
56:51ship. That'll be our next major
56:53milestone after we get through these
56:55final two satellites.
57:07Yeah, just at 25 minutes into our
57:10flight, it's crazy to think that we're
57:11already screaming at 27,000 km an hour,
57:15200 km above the ocean surface.
57:18>> Amazing.
57:19>> Yeah. Uh now, for those of you that uh
57:22lost count, we have deployed almost all
57:24of our 20 Starlink satellites. I believe
57:27our last count was at 18. So, we should
57:29be seeing two more. Um, and we're very
57:33excited to see our version 3 satellites
57:35in space. Uh, and these are fully like
57:38these are real satellites. They're not
57:39just demonstration uh sats like we had
57:42last time. Uh, these are going to
57:45basically have a 20inut lifespan where
57:47our Starlink engineering team will
57:50attempt to perform a number of tests and
57:52really speedrun those tests during that
57:54time.
57:54>> Right. And in terms of satellite
57:56lifespans, 20 minutes is it's the
57:58shortest you could possibly get, but
58:00hopefully in that 20 minute time frame,
58:02we can we can really try and ink out as
58:04many tests as we can.
58:06>> It looks like we might have some uh this
58:10might actually be light from one of the
58:12Starlink satellites. As we mentioned
58:14before, a few of them, six of them
58:16actually are equipped with flashlights
58:18to look back at Starship as we want to
58:21image the um the heat shield and
58:24understand the heat shield performance
58:25through the ascent phase. As this
58:27information is very important for us to
58:30know and understand as we uh prepare for
58:33operations that will enable ship to come
58:36back to Starbase for for landing, for
58:39catch, I should say, right?
58:44And we are about 40 seconds away from
58:46that planned payload deployment sequence
58:49being complete.
58:53>> Yep. Looks like we've just got those
58:55last two to go.
58:58These ones might be coming out. See
59:01starting to see motion.
59:04[cheering]
59:05[applause]
59:1119 out the door. One more. [cheering]
59:16[applause]
59:20>> Looks like we got a crowd at our
59:22Hawthorne, California location. Some
59:25colleagues gathering outside of mission
59:27control there as well.
59:29That marks, if I'm not mistaken, our
59:3120th. So, our payload deploy sequence is
59:35now complete. Starship will now close
59:38its payload bay door and continue to
59:40coast around Earth to the Indian Ocean.
59:43Still a lot of of major major events to
59:46come today, including our Raptor relight
59:48burn at T plus 38 minutes 58 seconds,
59:51followed by atmospheric re-entry where
59:53the heat shield will be put to test and
59:56eventually our splashdown. So, with
59:59that, we're going to go ahead and go on
1:00:00to another quick post.
1:00:02>> Yeah. So sit tight, enjoy the [cheering]
1:00:04views, uh, and of course some more space
1:00:06jams, and we [applause] will come back
1:00:08here at T + 37 minutes for our Raptor
1:00:12engine relight and of course Starship
1:00:14re-entry.
1:00:18[music]
1:00:25[music]
1:00:29Heat. Heat.
1:00:43[music]
1:01:00NTVC [music]
1:01:01checkouts.
1:01:11DBC checkouts [music] complete.
1:01:30Heat. Heat.
1:01:46>> [music]
1:02:05[music]
1:02:22>> Heat. Heat.
1:02:29Heat. Heat.
1:02:44[music]
1:02:50Heat. Heat.
1:03:00[music]
1:03:24Hey.
1:03:34[music]
1:03:38Hey.
1:03:40Heat. Heat. N.
1:03:44[music]
1:03:50Heat. Heat. N. [music]
1:04:00Heat. Heat. N.
1:04:10Heat. Heat.
1:04:27[music]
1:04:43>> [music]
1:04:50[music]
1:04:54[music]
1:04:55>> Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.
1:04:59Heat. Heat. N.
1:05:18>> [music]
1:05:22[music]
1:05:32[music]
1:05:41[music]
1:05:45>> Heat. Heat.
1:05:50[music]
1:05:56>> [music]
1:06:02[music]
1:06:06>> Heat. Heat.
1:06:27Hello.
1:06:36Hey. Hey.
1:07:34Heat. Heat. N.
1:07:38[music]
1:08:11Heat. Heat.
1:08:45Welcome back once again to the Flight 13
1:08:47webcast. If you're just joining us, our
1:08:50newest version of Starship, which you
1:08:52see there on your screen, successfully
1:08:54deployed 20 Starlink version 3
1:08:57satellites. And I've got great news to
1:08:58share. Not only were we able to make
1:09:00contact with all 20, but we also made
1:09:03comms over lasers with all of them as
1:09:05well. So, uh, that is awesome. Hell
1:09:07yeah. Shout out to our Starlink team.
1:09:10We're so thrilled.
1:09:10>> Huge milestone. And that's only 3
1:09:12minutes or 5 minutes after deploying
1:09:15them. I mean, that's crazy.
1:09:16>> Amazing. And right now, we are expecting
1:09:19a relight of a single Raptor engine, and
1:09:22that's going to be coming up in just
1:09:24over a minute and a half from now.
1:09:27>> That's right. We are going to be
1:09:28lighting one of our Seale Raptor
1:09:31engines. And this is essentially just a
1:09:35demonstration that you can relight an
1:09:38engine after it's already done its
1:09:39ascent burn. Um, and this is going to be
1:09:42really important when we do maneuvers
1:09:44for orbital missions, whether we're
1:09:47relighting to go into orbit, um, or if
1:09:50you're already in orbit and you're
1:09:51getting ready to do a de-orbit burn. Uh,
1:09:53we did hear our Raptor team is go for
1:09:56the engine relight. So, not going to be
1:09:57skipping it on this one. Um, so we
1:10:00should see that coming up uh, in just
1:10:02about 45 seconds from now. Um, again,
1:10:06this is not a de-orbit burn for this
1:10:08ship. We are on a suborbital trajectory.
1:10:10So, this Starship is coming back over
1:10:12the Indian Ocean no matter what. Uh, but
1:10:15this is going to be a pretty critical
1:10:17test um for what we'll eventually need
1:10:20to do when we do orbital missions when
1:10:22you got to relight those engines, do a
1:10:25burn to get yourself out of orbit. Uh,
1:10:28one thing that is unique on this one is
1:10:30we're going to be lighting it um for a
1:10:32little bit longer of a time. We're
1:10:34expecting this burn to be up to about 14
1:10:38seconds. We've only done about 3 seconds
1:10:41previously.
1:10:42And so that should be coming up within
1:10:44the next couple of seconds. Let's stand
1:10:46by.
1:10:50Light demo start up.
1:11:03You see relight there on your screen.
1:11:06>> Wow. [applause]
1:11:10>> And confirmation over the net. Relight
1:11:13shut down. The [applause] burn has
1:11:15ended. Congrats to the team on this
1:11:17milestone. I mean, it's it's crazy to
1:11:21see how we can maneuver in space and
1:11:23just another icing on the cake for
1:11:26today's mission. So, we're going to be
1:11:28taking another quick break. We'll be
1:11:30back in a couple of minutes before
1:11:32re-entry, which is targeted for about T
1:11:35plus 47 minutes. So, we'll see you soon.
1:11:59Heat. Heat.
1:12:28vehicle and entry prep.
1:12:32Heat. Heat. N.
1:12:42Heat. Heat. N.
1:12:52Heat. Heat. N.
1:13:07you
1:13:17need.
1:13:25Hey
1:13:28Heat.
1:13:44Heat.
1:13:51Yeah.
1:14:21Heat. Heat. N.
1:14:27Heat. Heat. N.
1:14:37Heat.
1:14:41Heat.
1:15:04Heat. Heat.
1:15:12Heat. Heat. N.
1:15:22Heat. Heat. N. [music]
1:15:49>> [music]
1:15:52>> Starship is starting entry. Good
1:15:54attitude for entry. [music]
1:15:59Heat. Heat.
1:16:26>> [music]
1:16:42[music]
1:16:46>> Welcome back once again to Starship
1:16:48Flight 13, the second test flight of
1:16:51Starship version 3. As you can see by
1:16:54these pretty cool views on your screen,
1:16:56the ship is currently re-entering the
1:16:58Earth's atmosphere. Now, we probably
1:17:00have some first-time viewers tuning in
1:17:02today. So, let's talk about this phase,
1:17:04>> right? So, re-entry, it's a critical
1:17:07phase of flight, and we need information
1:17:09on how the ship's systems perform. Uh,
1:17:12so re-entry, you can see that speed in
1:17:15the bottom lefthand corner of your
1:17:16screen. We have to scrub all of that
1:17:19speed down so that way we can safely
1:17:21land. It's it's a lot of energy to be
1:17:25able to scrub down and it's it's all the
1:17:27energy that we just used to launch the
1:17:29rocket as well. So, Starlink will also
1:17:32help us gather as much data as possible,
1:17:34which is really the main reason why we
1:17:36do these flight tests is to see how the
1:17:38ship performs in space and evaluate how
1:17:41it how it works. Starlink provides us
1:17:44with one more path to collect data to
1:17:46help us rapidly iterate our ship's
1:17:48design.
1:17:49>> Yeah, exactly. And if the ship manages
1:17:52to again make it all the way through
1:17:54re-entry, we'll collect valuable data on
1:17:57the spacecraft flying through the
1:17:58Earth's atmosphere. And it's doing so at
1:18:00hypersonic speeds or more than five
1:18:02times the speed of sound. Uh re-entry is
1:18:06typically a portion of flight where we
1:18:08don't have communications with
1:18:10spacecraft because it's re-entering at
1:18:13or around orbital velocity which is
1:18:15roughly 8 km/s or about 5 m/s. Uh so at
1:18:20those speeds the spacecraft is moving
1:18:22through the atmosphere so fast that it
1:18:25creates a plasma field around the
1:18:27vehicle.
1:18:28>> That black that blanket of plasma
1:18:30distorts communication frequencies. So
1:18:32it's not uncommon to experience brief
1:18:35blackouts in communication. Starship is
1:18:38designed to land on Mars where there are
1:18:40no runways or other humans to help out
1:18:43which is exactly why we're testing this
1:18:45landing procedure that we're doing
1:18:46today. And we're doing these propulsive
1:18:49landings instead of more traditional
1:18:51means like parachutes because control of
1:18:54the vehicle.
1:18:55>> You heard that call out, flaps do have
1:18:57control of the vehicle. You can actually
1:18:58see one view your your screen moving
1:19:01around. That's actually a camera affixed
1:19:03to the flap.
1:19:05So, as I was saying, we're we're testing
1:19:07these doing doing these landings instead
1:19:09of more traditional means. So, that way
1:19:12propulsive landing, we can enable more
1:19:14rapid reusability.
1:19:15>> Yeah. Now, we did just hear that call
1:19:17out. We should continue to hear some
1:19:19call outs as the ship makes its way back
1:19:22to Earth. Now, when we hear something
1:19:25called entry max heating, uh, as well as
1:19:28entry max Q, that means that the ship
1:19:30has made it through the maximum heating
1:19:33and aerodynamic loads, um, that it
1:19:36experiences as it returns. So, safe to
1:19:39say that if it makes it through those
1:19:41uh, specific points, we're doing pretty
1:19:43well.
1:19:47That's right. So, we'll continue to hear
1:19:48multiple call outs as we go through this
1:19:50phase. One of those call outs will be
1:19:53that the ship is transsonic. We'll also
1:19:56hear another one when it's subsonic.
1:19:59Transonic will be referring to the
1:20:00period of flight where velocities of air
1:20:02flow surrounding and flowing past the
1:20:05vehicle are current concurrently below,
1:20:08at, and above the speed of sound. So,
1:20:10somewhere in the range of Mach 0.8 to
1:20:121.2 2. For reference, commercial jets
1:20:16have a range of cruising speeds, but
1:20:17most fly at roughly Mach 74.85.
1:20:22Uh, just for reference, that's between
1:20:24480 mph to 575 mph or 770 to 930 km an
1:20:31hour.
1:20:34And subsonic, another call out that
1:20:36you'll hear later on in the stream,
1:20:38subsonic will refer to speeds that are
1:20:40much less than the speed of sound. So,
1:20:43at this point in flight, the ship's
1:20:44velocity will be slowing down
1:20:46drastically.
1:20:48So, with re-entry well underway, we'll
1:20:50take another break and return just
1:20:53before the ship's landing burn, targeted
1:20:55for t + 1 hour and 5 minutes.
1:21:41Heat.
1:21:56Heat.
1:22:14>> [music]
1:22:17>> Heat. Heat.
1:22:43Heat. Hey, Heat.
1:22:46[music]
1:22:56>> [music]
1:23:26>> Heat. Heat.
1:24:03Heat. Heat.
1:24:34>> [music]
1:24:43[music]
1:24:45>> Come on.
1:24:47Hey. Hey.
1:24:55>> [music]
1:25:37[music]
1:25:57>> Happy.
1:26:00[music]
1:26:12Got
1:26:28to go.
1:26:30[music]
1:26:40>> [music]
1:26:57>> Heat. Heat.
1:27:03Heat. Heat.
1:27:25Heat. Heat.
1:27:35[music]
1:27:43[music]
1:27:46Heat. Hey, Heat.
1:27:50[music]
1:28:03[music]
1:28:08Heat. Heat. [music]
1:28:29Heat. Heat.
1:28:49Heat
1:29:03up here.
1:29:43Heat. Heat.
1:30:01[music]
1:30:20>> [music]
1:30:28>> Heat. Heat. [music]
1:30:35>> [music]
1:30:45[music]
1:30:52[music]
1:30:53>> Hey,
1:30:56hey, hey.
1:30:59[music] Heat. Heat. N.
1:31:07[music]
1:31:25>> [music]
1:31:34[music]
1:31:39[music]
1:31:49>> Starship is leaving [music] the peak.
1:31:50heating phase of entry. External
1:31:52temperatures are coming down.
1:31:55[music]
1:32:13[music]
1:32:17Starship is at maximum entry dynamic
1:32:19pressure. Heat. Hey, Heat.
1:32:29[music]
1:32:37[music]
1:32:46Hey, hey, hey.
1:32:48[music]
1:32:55[music]
1:33:01[music]
1:33:09[music]
1:33:15>> [music]
1:33:22[music]
1:33:28>> Heat. Heat.
1:33:34[music] Heat. Heat. N.
1:33:44Heat. Heat.
1:33:53[music]
1:34:00[music]
1:34:10>> [music]
1:34:19>> Starship is executing the swoosh
1:34:21maneuver. [music]
1:34:29Dynamic pressure is coming down.
1:34:39Welcome back one last time to Starship
1:34:41Flight 13, the second flight of Starship
1:34:45version 3. As you could see on your
1:34:47screen with crisp views from Starlink,
1:34:50the ship is currently re-entering the
1:34:52Earth's atmosphere over the Indian
1:34:54Ocean. And really for the last several
1:34:57minutes, we had some amazing technicolor
1:34:59views. It really looked like it was made
1:35:01out of starlight. Now, we did hear on
1:35:04the nets just moments ago that we made
1:35:06it through max heating and max dynamic
1:35:09pressure, meaning that the vehicle
1:35:12temperature and speeds and pressure are
1:35:15all coming down. And we can see that in
1:35:17the bottom left hand corner of your
1:35:19screen as that speed continues to
1:35:21decelerate. We're coming up to the ship
1:35:25landing burn. uh one of every pretty
1:35:28much everybody's favorite part of of uh
1:35:31Starship test flight days and that's
1:35:33going to be coming up here in just about
1:35:35or a minute or so.
1:35:37>> Yeah, just about a minute away. We're
1:35:39going to try and light all three Raptor
1:35:41sea level engines for this burn. We'll
1:35:44light three, do the flip. We'll
1:35:47eventually go down to two as we get
1:35:48close down to the water down mode to a
1:35:50final one engine before we hopefully
1:35:53execute a nice soft splash down. We'll
1:35:55see if we've got our buoys and drones in
1:35:58range with the recovery team. They're
1:36:00going to be standing by to try and get
1:36:02some additional views of Starship's heat
1:36:04shield, which from kind of our initial
1:36:06looks, it did pretty well on the flight
1:36:09uphill, but we'll continue to dig
1:36:10through all the visual data uh as we get
1:36:13it. Uh we didn't do any real stress
1:36:16tests or anything on this flight. Uh we
1:36:19did do you heard our landing lont
1:36:22controller call out. We were doing the
1:36:24swoosh maneuver. This is kind of the
1:36:25final maneuver that we plan to have
1:36:27starships returning to uh star base do
1:36:31that will essentially hook them out over
1:36:33the gulf before coming in and over tower
1:36:37two. But about 10 seconds away. Look for
1:36:41three raptors, a three in the middle to
1:36:43light up. Do a flip. Let's see if we can
1:36:46get this thing in the water.
1:36:56Three sea level split.
1:37:00Seeing healthy chamber pressures on. Did
1:37:02our flip down to two.
1:37:05Starship descending into the Indian
1:37:08Ocean. [cheering] Down to one.
1:37:13And we're in the water.
1:37:17And it's a soft splash down in the
1:37:20water. [cheering]
1:37:22[applause]
1:37:27That is a first.
1:37:30That is the softest flash we have ever
1:37:32had with the Starship there in the
1:37:34Indian Ocean.
1:37:35>> It's bound to be an exciting day for our
1:37:38recovery team. I mean that huge
1:37:41milestone to even get to soft splash
1:37:43down much less have the vehicle stay
1:37:45afloat.
1:37:47>> Yeah,
1:37:48the teams are super hyped
1:37:50[cheering and applause] here.
1:37:52Got some crowd here at Starbase Tech
1:37:55Texas.
1:37:57Everyone's super excited. We never
1:37:59really get to see Starship floating so
1:38:02serenely in the Indian Ocean. So, we're
1:38:05certainly enjoying these extended views.
1:38:10Like I said, we're really pumped about
1:38:12this. Uh, I want to check in with Tyler.
1:38:15Uh, Tyler, how is Hawthorne feeling
1:38:17about Lucky Flight 13?
1:38:21Hey Kate, we are so excited about
1:38:23another successful Starship test flight
1:38:25and those gorgeous Starling views that
1:38:27we had. And we can also confirm that we
1:38:29were managed to make we managed to make
1:38:31contact with all 20 of those V3 sets.
1:38:34So, it's a massive day for us. So
1:38:36congratulations to everyone at the team
1:38:38at Starbase, for Starlink, everyone here
1:38:41and around the company who've
1:38:42contributed to the Starship program as
1:38:44we make progress again towards a
1:38:46multilanetary future. So thank you
1:38:49everyone for tuning in. That's goodbye
1:38:51from Hawthorne and back to you guys at
1:38:52Starbase.
1:38:54Thanks so much Tyler. Now for anyone who
1:38:57perhaps missed the action, I suggest
1:39:00that you rewind the clock. Wow, look at
1:39:03that view of the Starship heat shield
1:39:05tiles. You can really see how the
1:39:08atmospheric re-entry um the how it
1:39:12disperses the heat around the edge of
1:39:14the vehicle. I don't think we've seen
1:39:16quite that close before. Never. And
1:39:18honestly, however short-lived that ship
1:39:21standing bobbing in the water is, that
1:39:24is insane data for our team. It's it's
1:39:27unbelievable that we were able to keep
1:39:29that ship afloat. Now, we promised
1:39:31maximum excitement and Starship V3
1:39:34delivered. Congratulations to all of our
1:39:37teammates at SpaceX and to everyone who
1:39:40supported the Starship program and thank
1:39:42you to all of our future customers for
1:39:45your support.
1:39:46>> Uh yeah, as you could tell, the crowd
1:39:48really enjoyed that Nemo cam for a
1:39:51moment. Uh, we'd also like to thank the
1:39:53fine people of Cameron County as well as
1:39:56the Coast Guard, the Federal Aviation
1:39:58Administration, and the government of
1:40:00Mexico. The amazing views do not end.
1:40:04So, be sure to follow SpaceX on X for
1:40:07updates and more of these exciting shots
1:40:09that we didn't get to feature on today's
1:40:11broadcast. And to get an inside
1:40:14real-time look uh into the at the teams
1:40:17bringing this incredible rocket to life,
1:40:19check out the latest episode of our
1:40:20documentary series Starship. And of
1:40:23course, thanks to all of you for for
1:40:24tuning in and uh we're going to head
1:40:28back up to Dan for uh some additional
1:40:30thoughts.
1:40:31>> Yeah, I'm I'm losing my mind right now.
1:40:33We are still getting views from on board
1:40:35the ship with it in the water. Like we
1:40:38had tried in the past to do these
1:40:41splashdowns as softly as possible. We
1:40:43experimented with rolls. This is the
1:40:45first time we've put an intact starship
1:40:48in the water. This is a dream scenario
1:40:52for the team that's trying to get this
1:40:54heat shield data. Normally you're
1:40:55working with a slightly charred starship
1:40:59in the water and now we have one intact.
1:41:02So the recovery team is moving in with
1:41:04their drones and that [cheering] we are
1:41:06still getting views from Starship. It is
1:41:09sending these via Starlink from the
1:41:11other side of the world while it is
1:41:13floating in the water after flying
1:41:16through space. Like this is just
1:41:18completely surreal right now. Uh this is
1:41:21just
1:41:23a mountain of data that we're going to
1:41:25get back. This is going to be so
1:41:27critical for refining the heat shield,
1:41:30everything else. And the really good
1:41:33news is all of these views that we're
1:41:35seeing, you're looking at a pretty
1:41:36intact looking heat shield, which as a
1:41:39reminder, we were flying at a
1:41:42significantly higher dynamic pressure.
1:41:44So putting way more stress on this
1:41:46vehicle on the way uphill, and it's
1:41:48sitting there in the water, and I mean,
1:41:50look at it. So
1:41:53I'm I'm a little bit over the moon on
1:41:56this. I know a lot of our team is just
1:41:59fascinated in the control room behind
1:42:01me. I mean, everybody is psyched.
1:42:03Everyone's gathered around their
1:42:05computers looking at these close-ups
1:42:07that we're getting of these heat shield
1:42:08tiles. 18,000 of them. I mean, you can
1:42:12probably count the ones that are missing
1:42:13right now on one hand. Like, this is
1:42:15just absolutely incredible. And the fact
1:42:18that like the cameras on board the ship
1:42:21are still sending back video is just a
1:42:23little bit surreal. So, uh, wow, lucky
1:42:28number 13. Uh, hell of a flight for
1:42:32Starship. Get it all the way there in
1:42:34the water. U really great day for for
1:42:37version three. So,
1:42:42all right. Uh, as as Kate and Nate said,
1:42:46we're going to keep releasing more of
1:42:48this. Stay tuned. We've got some really
1:42:50cool stuff from some of the onboards
1:42:52that we caught. So, keep following us on
1:42:54X at SpaceX. Whole bunch more cool
1:42:57imagery from launch, from the flight
1:42:58that's going to be coming out soon. Uh,
1:43:01yeah, let's just close on that. I mean,
1:43:03look at Starship in the Indian Ocean.
1:43:05That's fantastic. Uh, we'll see you all
1:43:07back here for the next flight test of
1:43:10Starship version 3. With that, we'll say
1:43:13goodbye.
1:43:15>> [music]

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