SpaceX Starship Grounded Indefinitely By FAA

The spacecraft could be out of operation for months as the FAA investigates the cause of last week's launch explosion.

For all of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s enthusiasm about the orbital test flight of Starship, last week’s launch has sidelined the project for the time being.

Shortly after Thursday’s test flight concluded in a ball of flames, reports emerged that the FAA has grounded Starship as it conducts an investigation into the reason behind the explosion—and as others examine the potential health and safety hazards it created.

The FAA confirmed this in an April 20 statement: “An anomaly occurred during the ascent and prior to stage separation resulting in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA will oversee the mishap investigation of the Starship / Super Heavy test mission.”

An FAA spokesperson told FLYING that mishap investigations, which are standard in cases such as this, “might conclude in a matter of weeks,” but more complex investigations “might take several months.”

I really hate that framing. It's literally the job of the FAA to investigate mishaps. This is standard operations.

I might be forgetting something, but I can't recall them having two launches so close together from the same area. (They've definitely done it with one on the east coast and one on the west coast.) Pretty impressive.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Two Falcons on two SpaceX pads in Florida. If the weather cooperates, launch windows open 2+ hours apart for these two missions → <a href="https://t.co/bJFjLCilmc">https://t.co/bJFjLCilmc</a> <a href="https://t.co/1BrgYRhZ80">pic.twitter.com/1BrgYRhZ80</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1652002095539580929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That said, weather still looks fairly shitty, so I'd be surprised if both of them go today.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If the weather in Florida holds this evening, which is no guarantee, SpaceX will attempt to launch a Falcon 9 from one pad, and then a Falcon Heavy from a nearby pad 1 hour and 17 minutes later. <a href="https://t.co/VIliZ0oUp5">https://t.co/VIliZ0oUp5</a></p>— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) <a href="https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1652065675362328578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Love it. The F9 launch was fine.

Was badass to see in person from Isla Blanca on South Padre. Def made an interesting sound.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P98kU8fJwPM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2vUXyv9KoGE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://i.postimg.cc/DZWZrYQ8/IMG-8538.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/5yL2GYRJ/IMG-8548.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/RCHhqyVY/IMG-8565.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/mD0r8NVV/IMG-8567.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/PrnxDyC5/IMG-8568.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/VLYjMnZn/IMG-8580.jpg

Pushed it an hour:

The 57-minute launch window opens at 7:29 p.m. ET

Jealous. I may make a trip down there just to see the rockets standing there, let alone flying.

Envious!! I've got a trip coming up to San Luis Obispo. Trying to schedule it to see a VSF launch.

FH broadcast is live. T-10 minutes

Abort. Darn.

Sigh

Oh well, at least there is still a draft. :)

Bummer. Hopefully it's something small.

Lots of good details from Elon about the Starship launch issues in this thread:

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/...fb3f8024w&s=19

Going to try the FH launch again today:

SpaceX is targeting Sunday, April 30 for a Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 Americas mission to geostationary orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also on board this mission is Astranis's first MicroGEO satellite and Gravity Space’s GS-1 satellite. The 57-minute launch window opens at 7:29 p.m. ET (23:29 UTC).

One of the side boosters on this mission previously supported Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, KPLO, and three Starlink missions, and the second previously supported launch of Arabsat-6A and STP-2.

A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.