Starship Flight 5 - live updates
Welcome to The Weekly Spaceman's live blog on Starship's fifth flight. We will be providing live updates as time progresses.
Ship 30
Ship 30 is now loading propellant! SpaceX will be starting with the liquid methane then liquid oxygen.
Venting
Venting has now ended
The prop load of the Super Heavy booster is now underway!
T-25 Minutes until launch!
A new heatshield:
SpaceX has designed the 18,000 hexagonal heat shield tiles to be stronger and (hopefully) perform better on this flight. They are also carrying some aluminium heat shield tiles for collecting information on the heating during re-entry.
Chilly engines!
The 39 Raptor engines on Starship and Super Heavy are chilling down in preparation for liftoff.
The weather is looking good in Boca Chica
Weather, Range and Vehicle all go for launch
Fuel Status
T-5 Minutes!
Launch may be have to be held for 5 minutes…
Dan Hout, SpaceX spokesperson, says that SpaceX is continuing to clear boats from the offshore launch range.
GO FOR LAUNCH!
08:25 EDT: WE HAVE LIFTOFF!!!
Starship clears the pad at 08:25 EDT for its 5th flight, with 74,432 Kilonewtons of thrust.
At T+1 minute, all the 33 Raptor engines seem to be fairing well despite reaching Max Q (The peak moment of mechanical stress on the rocket), the next major milestone is hotstaging!
Main Engine Cutoff
The tower team is also going go/no go
Successful Stage Separation
The ship is now on its own power.
Booster and Tower are now undergoing their own checks.
Tower is GO for booster catch!
Landing burn!
SUCCESSFUL CATCH OF SUPER HEAVY!
On SpaceX’s first-ever attempt at a catch, Super Heavy has been successfully caught and is between the chopsticks on this historic test of Starship.
Starship begins Orbit Insertion
Superheavy is currently venting on the chopsticks
Stunning views from Starship!
Ship 30 is still in orbit, and continues to be broadcasting live images to Earth through Starlink.
Starship is expected to re-enter from its suborbital trajectory, about 65 minutes after launch in the Indian Ocean.
Starship begins to re-enter
Heat is building on the heatshield!
The heatshields and flaps are holding up so far!
Starship is now at an altitude of 70km and SpaceX confirms that it is at a good attitude for re-entry.
Starship is halfway through the peak heating phase and looking nominal!
We are still getting amazing views coming through via Starlink after a heatshield upgrade from SpaceX following Flight 4.
10 minutes until landing burns as altitude is about 60km
The flaps that can! The flaps are crucial to the controlled soft-splashdown planned by SpaceX
Starship rapidly decelerating as it reaches maximum dynamic pressure
Ship 30 is now receiving the maximum dynamic load as it re-enters the atmosphere
Starship is currently about twice the speed of sound
Only 1 minute later, the entire vehicle is at sub-sonic speeds!
About 1 minute until splashdown
Starship begins its landing flip and remains on target.
Approaching Landing burn startup
STARSHIP HAS SPLASHED DOWN
Starship Flight 5 has gone perfectly from start to finish, with a perfect splashdown in the Indian Ocean confirmed! The ship nailed its targeted landing area, providing us with spectacular views!
Not one blackout throughout the whole mission, which really shows how successful this flight has been! There was a minor burn-through on the forward flap but much less than Flight 4.
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