Failure
Integrated Flight Test
Test Flight
SpaceX(SpX)CommercialStarshipN/A
Suborbit
Maiden flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. The booster was supposed to separate 170 seconds into flight and return to land approximately 32 km off the shore in the Gulf of Mexico. The second stage would have followed a suborbital trajectory and performed an unpowered splashdown approximately 100 km off the northwest coast of Kauai (Hawaii). A launch failure was experienced before stage separation.
Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 1:33 PM
Replay
Links
Status Details
Failure Reason
After liftoff, the vehicle sustained fires from leaking propellant in the aft end of the Super Heavy booster, severing connection with the vehicle’s primary flight computer. This led to a loss of communications to most of the booster engines and eventually control of the vehicle. After the second stage failed to separate from the first stage, the vehicle reached an apogee of ~39km before tumbling downwards until the flight termination system was activated. Unexpected severe damage was also imparted on the launch pad.
Mission details
The SpaceX Starship is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX since 2012, as a self-funded private spaceflight project. The second stage of the Starship — is designed as a long-duration cargo and passenger-carrying spacecraft. It is expected to be initially used without any booster stage at all, as part of an extensive development program to prove out launch-and-landing and iterate on a variety of design details, particularly with respect to the vehicle's atmospheric reentry.
Mar 1, 2019 — ongoing
SpX Mission
#239
Pad Launch
#1
Location Launch
#10
Launch Window
NET
Apr 20, 2023, 1:33 PM
Precision
Second
Schedule Changes
1 update
Social Flight Log
- Apr 20, 2023, 1:43 PM
Launch failure
Source - Apr 20, 2023, 1:33 PM
Liftoff
Source - Apr 20, 2023, 1:32 PM
Resuming countdown
Source - Apr 20, 2023, 1:28 PM
Hold
Source - Apr 20, 2023, 12:49 PM
Livestream has started
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 11:38 PM
Confirmed next launch attempt on April 20.
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 9:50 PM
Flight restriction for Wednesday has been cancelled, indicating a delay. Next possible window is Thursday, April 20th
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 5:55 PM
Adjusting window based on FAA advisory. Awaiting confirmation from SpaceX, and window end time is uncertain
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 1:20 PM
Next opportunity on April 19.
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 1:14 PM
Scrub due to a first stage pressurization issue. Next opportunity 24 hours later.
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 12:35 PM
Livestream has started
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 11:41 AM
Updating T-0 to 13:20 UTC
Source - Apr 17, 2023, 1:06 AM
1 hour slip in target T-0
Source - Apr 14, 2023, 11:17 PM
Refined launch window.
Source - Apr 14, 2023, 10:17 PM
Setting GO. SpaceX has received their FAA launch licence
Source - Apr 11, 2023, 7:57 PM
SpaceX has confirmed they are targeting Monday, April 17th for the Starship Integrated Flight Test. A live broadcast will begin at approx. T-45 minutes, but with the nature of the flight timelines are highly subject to change.
Source - Apr 10, 2023, 4:19 PM
Setting window
Source - Apr 10, 2023, 1:56 PM
Moving to NET mid third week of April and removed launch window pending confirmation from FAA advisory
Source - Apr 6, 2023, 6:56 PM
SpaceX will conduct a Wet Dress Rehearsal next week, with a launch NET the following week (April 17), pending regulatory approval.
Source - Apr 5, 2023, 3:17 PM
Moving back to NET April. A road closure filing for April 10-13 states non-flight activities on those days.
Source - Apr 5, 2023, 2:47 AM
Tweak in potential launch window.
Source - Apr 4, 2023, 6:54 PM
Starship Orbital Flight Test scheduled NET April 10 per the latest FAA Operations Plan Advisory and NASA WB-57 schedule. Still TBD pending the FAA launch license and technical readiness.
Source - Mar 16, 2023, 11:56 PM
NET April
Source - Feb 25, 2023, 4:44 PM
March 11 launch date no longer certain.
Source - Feb 12, 2023, 6:11 PM
NET March 11
Source - Feb 5, 2023, 3:06 AM
NET March
Source - Jan 8, 2023, 9:30 AM
NET late February
Source - Oct 31, 2022, 4:55 PM
NET December 2022
Source - Sep 21, 2022, 1:02 PM
Targeting November 2022 for first launch
Source - Sep 15, 2022, 3:01 AM
Launch no earlier than October 2022 with Starship/Superheavy on-pad testing still yet to complete.
Source - Aug 10, 2022, 7:17 PM
Moving to NET September, pending vehicle readiness and FAA launch licence
- Jul 11, 2022, 10:47 PM
Pushing to NET August pending vehicle readiness.
- May 21, 2022, 9:14 AM
Probably can be safely pushed back by a month pending Boca Chica launch pad EA approval.
Source - Mar 21, 2022, 7:22 PM
NET May 2022
Source - Feb 14, 2022, 6:40 PM
Release of the final FAA PEA for the Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the Boca Chica launch site now planned for March 28, 2022.
Source - Dec 28, 2021, 6:06 PM
NET March 2022
Source - Nov 17, 2021, 5:01 PM
NET early 2022
Source
SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Starbase is an industrial complex for Starship rockets and the headquarters of the American aerospace manufacturer company SpaceX. Located near Brownsville, Texas, United States, it has been under construction since the late 2010s by SpaceX. Starbase is composed of a spaceport near the Gulf of Mexico, a production facility at the Boca Chica village, and a small structure test site along the Texas State Highway 4.
Timezone
America/Chicago
Local Launch Time
Apr 20, 2023, 8:33 AM
Total Launches
21
Total Landings
13
Coordinates
25.9970, -97.1570
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
Founded
2002
Administrator
CEO: Elon Musk
Total Launches
681
Successful
666
Failed
15
Pending
120
Consecutive Success
166