Article by Phantime23Ball and Logan_sx27

“The sixth flight test of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Tuesday, November 19.”

- SpaceX

We are coming up on witnessing the world’s largest rocket lift off for the sixth time. This page will cover everything about what IFT-6 is, what has happened and will happen, and future Starship flights. This flight will continue their path of improvement with this flight as they target another booster return and some changes to the ship’s profile.

About IFT-6

The Vehicles for Flight 6

On this launch, the vehicles flying on this mission are Super Heavy Booster 13 and Starship 31.

Booster 13 is more or less the same as its predecessor, Booster 12. The main changes to this prototype come within the software. After gathering a lot of data from the first successful catch, the SpaceX teams changed the control software and updated the commit criteria for the launch and return of the booster. Hardware changes involve increased structural strength and support in key areas, most likely the chines as part of it got ripped off during the catch on Flight 5. Further upgrades to the hardware involve more redundancy to the engine section and a shorter time to offload propellant after catch.

Ship 31 (Sparky, named for an unfortunate electrical fire during cryo testing) is the final Block 1 Starship to fly and comes with a few hardware changes for this flight. It had rows of its heat shield stripped to test if it was still enough to protect Starship during entry because SpaceX wants to place the catching hardware in these locations.

Ship 31’s Banana for Scale

Just like Ship 30’s mechazilla decal, SpaceX has added a banana decal for scale.

Testing Campaign - Booster 13

December 2022: Booster 13 was first spotted

September 5th, 2023: Booster 13 stacking begins.

February 3rd, 2024: Booster 13 fully stacked.

April 25th, 2024: Booster 13 rolled out to Masseys for cryogenic proof tests.

April 26/27th, 2024: Booster 13 completed a cryo test of its CH4 tank.

April 29th, 2024: Booster 13 completed a cryo test of its LOX tank.

May 3rd, 2024: Booster 13 rolled back to the production site for engine installation.

October 22nd, 2024: Booster 13 rolled to the launch site.

October 23rd, 2024: Booster 13 was placed on the OLM. Booster 13 also conducted ambient pressure testing in the night.

October 24th, 2024: Booster 13 conducted a 33-engine static fire.

October 25th, 2024: Booster 13 rolled back to the production site for pre-flight checkouts.

November 14th, 2024: Booster 13 rolled to the launch site with its hot stage ring for the final time.

Testing Campaign - Ship 31

August 2022: Ship 31 was first spotted.

August 31st, 2023: Ship 31 stacking begins.

October 3rd, 2023: Ship 31 stacking completed.

May 11th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled out to Masseys for cryogenic proof tests.

May 12th, 2024: Ship 31 attempted a cryo test, aborted due to an electrical fire.

May 15th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled back to the production site for repairs.

July 1st, 2024: Ship 31 rolled to Masseys for cryogenic proof tests.

July 2nd, 2024: Ship 31 conducted a full cryo of both tanks.

July 3rd, 2024: Ship 31 conducted a partial cryo of both tanks.

July 6th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled back to the production site for engine installation.

September 6th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled to Masseys for a static fire.

September 8th, 2024: Aborted static fire.

September 14th, 2024: Aborted static fire.

September 18th, 2024: Ship 31 completed a 6-engine static fire.

September 20th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled back to the production site for pre-flight checkouts.

November 11th, 2024: Ship 31 rolled to the launch site for the final time ahead of Flight 6.

Expanding on Flight 5

Flight 5 was the biggest challenge yet. SpaceX targeted a booster catch and an on-target Starship landing.

On October 13th, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:25 am CST. Starship soared through Max-Q and beautifully performed hot-staging, sending the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft on their separate journeys.

SpaceX then successfully caught the Super Heavy booster using the mechanical arms, referred to as chopsticks. This was a monumental accomplishment for SpaceX and a huge step in the right direction for rapid reusability. The next step now is to return the ship to the launch site.

The Flight 5 Starship (Ship 30) certainly leaped a future return to launch site landing as it executed a perfect on-target splashdown in the Indian Ocean. During entry and landing, we were spoiled with incredible onboard views as well as a buoy showing the ship blow up after landing burn shutdown.

In a recent conference, Kathy Lueders (Starbase general manager) announced SpaceX was targeting a Ship catch within the next 6 months, as well as upwards of 25 flights next year for Starship.

It’s safe to say Starship Flight 5 was the biggest leap forward so far in the program. But what will SpaceX do differently in Flight 6 to one up Flight 5?

Booster 13 rolling out for static firing (SpaceX)

On November 6th, 2024, SpaceX released the Flight 5 recap video as well as the date for Flight 6.

On November 19th, 2024 we will see Starship fly again with the aim of another booster catch, an in-space Raptor relight, and of course, another on-target splashdown of Starship.

The first launch attempt, November 18th interestingly is a recurring date in the program as Flight 2 also flew on this date. The launch window for Flight 6 will open at 4 pm CST (instead of the usual 7 am) on Monday for a day splashdown in the Indian Ocean for better observation of the ship’s status.

The profile for Flight 6 will be similar to Flight 5 but adjusted to “expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities”.

Once Starship Super Heavy lifts off, it will continue its ascent for 2 minutes and 32 seconds. At this point, 30/33 engines will shut down (MECO - Most Engines Cut Off) and the remaining 3 will be throttled as low as possible in preparation for hot staging. Then, Starship will ignite its 6 Raptor engines (3 sea level and 3 vacuum optimized engines) whilst still attached to Super Heavy and will then separate and hopefully complete their mission.

At T+2 minutes and 44 seconds, Super Heavy will ignite the middle ring of 10 Raptor engines as well as throttle up the center 3 for the boostback burn. This burn will last around 54 seconds and will put the booster on a catch trajectory, AS LONG AS all systems on the booster and tower are healthy and a manual command is sent from the Flight Director. If SpaceX does not go through with the catch, Super Heavy will default to a trajectory in the Gulf of Mexico and perform a soft splashdown. After the completion of the boost-back burn, SpaceX will jettison the Hot Stage Ring (HSR) to reduce mass on landing.

Then at T+6 minutes and 38 seconds, Super Heavy will ignite its 13 middle engines for the landing burn, shortly followed by the middle ring of 10 shutting down, leaving just the center 3 firing for the final descent between the chopsticks. Providing that everything goes smoothly, Super Heavy will be caught at T+7 minutes and will shut down its engines.

The Starship spacecraft will keep firing its engines for 5 minutes and 48 seconds and then shut them down at T+8 minutes 27 seconds, putting it on a suborbital trajectory. About 9 and a half minutes before entry, Starship will perform a Raptor relight in space. This test is key to enabling Starlink and orbital missions as SpaceX is yet to prove de-orbit capabilities as every flight has been suborbital. SpaceX attempted this test on Flight 3, but after Ship Engine Cut Off (SECO) the ship lost attitude control and went into an uncontrollable spin. This triggered an abort for the test.

At T+47 minutes and 13 seconds, Starship will begin its entry into Earth’s atmosphere. As previously discussed, Starship has had a lot of heat shield tiles on the side of it removed and new secondary materials which will make this another exciting re-entry. The reason for the removed heat shield is to test the “limits of Starship’s capabilities and generate flight data for ship catch and reuse”. The removed tiles are where the ship catch points are expected to be placed. So this test will validate Starship can survive without this portion of its heatshield.

During the final phase of entry, Starship will intentionally fly at a much higher angle of attack, “purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles.”

Then at T+1 hour, 5 minutes, and 1 seconds, we will see the first daytime Starship landing since SN15 during the 10km hop campaign. This is the reason for the later launch window as SpaceX wants better visibility during Starship landing to gather more visual data.

If all goes well, Flight 6 will be the most demanding flight for the Starship spacecraft and will be a big step toward Ship returns.

If any issues pop up during the final count, the team will hold the count at T-40 seconds to inspect and determine if that issue would require repair and scrub the launch for the day, or if the problem can be fixed and release the hold. SpaceX can hold for 30 minutes and final checks will also be made during this time.

But if the water deluge is activated and the countdown stops, it would be an automatic scrub as SpaceX will have to refill the water tanks for another launch attempt.

This is the count that we will be following:

T-

01:15:00 - SpaceX Flight Director go/no-go for prop load

00:49:50 - Ship CH4 load underway

00:49:21 - Ship LOX load underway

00:41:15 - Booster CH4 load underway

00:35:39 - Booster LOX load underway

00:19:40 - Raptor begins engine chill on booster and ship

00:03:20 - Ship prop load complete

00:02:50 - Booster prop load complete

00:00:40 - HOLD POINT

00:00:30 - SpaceX flight director go for launch

00:00:10 - Water deluge activation

00:00:03 - Raptor ignition sequence

00:00:00 - Excitement guaranteed

T+

00:00:02 - Liftoff

00:01:02 - Max Q

00:02:32 - Booster MECO

00:02:39 - Hot-staging

00:02:44 - Booster boostback burn startup

At this point in the count, SpaceX makes their manual catch decision, which has to be made before the end of the boostback burn.

00:03:38 - Booster boostback burn shutdown

00:03:40 - Hot stage ring separates

00:06:25 - Booster is transonic

00:06:38 - Booster landing burn

00:07:00 - Booster landing burn shutdown and catch

00:08:27 - Ship engine cutoff

00:37:46 - Ship Raptor in-space relight attempt

00:47:13 - Ship entry

01:02:06 - Ship is transonic

01:03:12 - Ship is subsonic

01:04:56 - Landing flip

01:05:01 - Landing burn

01:05:24 - Ship splashdown

SpaceX was approved for Flight 6 when they received the Flight 5 license, this means Starship can fly whenever SpaceX is ready.

A webcast will go live 30 minutes before T-0 on SpaceX’s X page; as with most test flights, the schedule can rapidly change. Make sure to follow SpaceX and The Weekly Spaceman for updates to the timeline.

Starship IFT-6: Everything About It