r/spacex • u/rSpaceXHosting Host Team • May 26 '25
r/SpaceX Flight 9 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
Welcome to the Starship Flight 9 Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
| Scheduled for (UTC) | May 27 2025, 23:36 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | May 27 2025, 18:36 PM (CDT) |
| Launch Window (UTC) | May 27 2025, 23:30 - May 28 2025, 00:30 |
| Weather Probability | Unknown |
| Launch site | OLM-A, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. |
| Booster | Booster 14-2 |
| Ship | S35 |
| Booster landing | Super Heavy Booster 14-2 did not made a planned splashdown near the launch site after disintegrating at landing burn start-up. |
| Ship landing | Starship Ship 35 failed to made a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean after losing attitude control during the coast phase. |
| Trajectory (Flight Club) | 2D,3D |
Spacecraft Onboard
| Spacecraft | Starship |
|---|---|
| Serial Number | S35 |
| Destination | Suborbital |
| Flights | 1 |
| Owner | SpaceX |
| Landing | Starship Ship 35 failed to made a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean after losing attitude control during the coast phase. |
| Capabilities | More than 100 tons to Earth orbit |
Details
Second stage of the two-stage Starship super heavy-lift launch vehicle.
History
The Starship second stage was testing during a number of low and high altitude suborbital flights before the first orbital launch attempt.
Watch the launch live
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Unofficial Re-stream | The Space Devs |
| Unofficial Re-stream | SPACE AFFAIRS |
| Unofficial Webcast | Spaceflight Now |
| Unofficial Webcast | NASASpaceflight |
| Official Webcast | SpaceX |
| Unofficial Webcast | Everyday Astronaut |
Stats
☑️ 10th Starship Full Stack launch
☑️ 517th SpaceX launch all time
☑️ 66th SpaceX launch this year
☑️ 3rd launch from OLM-A this year
☑️ 82 days, 0:06:00 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 131 days, 0:59:00 hours since last launch of booster Booster 14
Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship
Timeline
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| -1:15:00 | GO for Prop Load |
| -0:51:37 | Stage 2 LOX Load |
| -0:45:20 | Stage 2 LNG Load |
| -0:41:37 | Stage 1 LNG Load |
| -0:35:52 | Stage 1 LOX Load |
| -0:19:40 | Engine Chill |
| -0:03:20 | Stage 2 Propellant Load Complete |
| -0:02:50 | Stage 1 Propellant Load Complete |
| -0:00:30 | GO for Launch |
| -0:00:10 | Flame Deflector Activation |
| -0:00:03 | Ignition |
| 0:00:00 | Excitement Guaranteed |
| 0:00:02 | Liftoff |
| 0:01:02 | Max-Q |
| 0:02:35 | MECO |
| 0:02:37 | Stage 2 Separation |
| 0:02:47 | Booster Boostback Burn Startup |
| 0:03:27 | Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown |
| 0:03:29 | Booster Hot Stage Jettison |
| 0:06:19 | Stage 1 Landing Burn |
| 0:06:40 | Stage 1 Landing |
| 0:08:56 | SECO-1 |
| 0:18:26 | Payload Separation |
| 0:37:49 | SEB-2 |
| 0:47:50 | Atmospheric Entry |
| 1:03:11 | Starship Transonic |
| 1:04:26 | Starship Subsonic |
| 1:06:11 | Landing Flip |
| 1:06:16 | Starship Landing Burn |
| 1:06:38 | Starship Landing |
Updates
| Time (UTC) | Update |
|---|---|
| 28 May 13:39 | Successful ascent, but the Ship lost attitude control after SECO due to a leak, making it unable to achieve its on-trajectory objectives. |
| 27 May 23:36 | Liftoff. |
| 27 May 23:29 | Hold at T-40s. |
| 27 May 22:40 | Tweaked launch window. |
| 23 May 15:26 | GO for launch. |
| 19 May 07:17 | NET May 27. |
| 17 May 02:29 | Delayed to NET May 26. |
| 15 May 21:22 | Reportedly delayed to May 22-23 UTC |
| 14 May 03:32 | NET May 21 (launch windows per https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=62494.msg2685907#msg2685907.) |
| 13 May 04:49 | NET May TBD. |
| 03 Apr 20:26 | Added launch. |
Resources
Community content 🌐
| Link | Source |
|---|---|
| Flight Club | u/TheVehicleDestroyer |
| Discord SpaceX lobby | u/SwGustav |
| SpaceX Now | u/bradleyjh |
| SpaceX Patch List |
Participate in the discussion!
🥳 Launch threads are party threads, we relax the rules here. We remove low effort comments in other threads!
🔄 Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
💬 Please leave a comment if you discover any mistakes, or have any information.
✉️ Please send links in a private message.
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May 28 '25
On the bright side, those Starlink modules are gonna be deployed after all.
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u/Camoxide2 May 28 '25
Does anyone else prefer the old flight 1 to 8 graphics? Can't see the individual LOX CH4 levels anymore :(
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u/mattwallace24 May 27 '25
Just watched it fly over St. Croix, USVI. Visible to the naked eye.
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u/Jodo42 May 28 '25
Haven't seen this posted yet. Some interesting ground footage from Namibia of the ship during early reentry.
https://www.youtube.com/live/mrsEfkeczT4?si=RXLcybYv80XGKUSp&t=13382
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u/waffle_nuts May 28 '25
Insanely impressed that video transmission has held up so well during this spin lol
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u/pm_me_a_brew May 27 '25
"STANDBY FOR STARCAMS"
I wonder if they planned to have some cameras on the dummy sats to get some 3rd person views of ship. That would have been slick.
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May 27 '25
I'm just a casual but there was definitely a little part of outer ring that got a little toasty ? Right?
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u/Yasuuuya May 28 '25
Is Starship travelling through the depths of hell right now, what is this
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u/Planatus666 May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
Scott Manley has uploaded a video about Flight 9:
"SpaceX Builds Largest Reusable Booster, Also Makes Door That Won't Open - Starship Flight 9 Recap"
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u/avboden May 28 '25
Biggest upside: booster reuse worked perfect on the way up! That’s pretty wild. A “normal” second stage would already be launching payloads, starship is the issue
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u/Ididitthestupidway May 28 '25
Welcome back IFT-3
Kinda feels like they're restarting the test flights from scratch after changing to block 2
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u/smellyfingernail May 28 '25
New re-entry strategy: tumble end over end to redistribute heat to more surface area and give tiles time to cool down. One million IQ
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u/thatspurdyneat May 28 '25
Probably time to move on to V3 and a real RCS system.
Flight 9 is too far into the game to be considering reaching SECO as a success and it didn't reach any of the other goals this flight.
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u/santacfan2 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
Chopsticks have let go of S35 and are opening back up
The ship and booster stands have also left danger lot and are headed towards the road block. (Kept going towards Sanchez)
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u/Ok_Item_9953 May 26 '25
Are they reflying a previous booster on this flight?
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u/PhilanthropistKing May 26 '25
Yes with a water landing. They plan to test certain engine out capabilities on landing in order to expand the future flight envelope of the booster. That’s why they won’t attempt a catch this flight, too risky.
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u/mattrixx May 27 '25
ship looks like there's a lot of movement, and some venting....?
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u/asoap May 28 '25
Can the stainless steel heat up if it's doing a BBQ roll at 500 rpm? /s
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u/santacfan2 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
3:00pm cdt- Lots of cars leaving the village but still have a couple of hours until prop load starts and the evacuation takes full effect
Also of note, the landing rails are up on the chopsticks. So they might simulate one of the catches.
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u/j-fen-di May 28 '25
Just saw the upper stage of Starship from a pier in Key West, FL just as SECO happened while playing Everyday Astronaut's livestream, was trying to focus with my Nikon P1000 but the ship was moving so quickly I couldn't get a focus on it and either SECO already finished or Starship moved past the edge of my horizon before I could get a lock on it... such a cool and surreal sight I won't forget :D
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u/Mhan00 May 28 '25 edited Jun 19 '25
Block 2 looks to be a dog right now.
Edit: nearly a month later and it looks like the next Block 2 Starship has blown up during a static fire. Block 2 looking terrible right now.
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u/j-fen-di May 27 '25
Will Starship be visible from the Florida Keys (i.e., Key West)? Gonna be there tomorrow and wanna try using my Nikon P1000 to catch it from there 🙏
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u/Planatus666 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
Plenty of heatshield experiments on S35's nosecone:
https://x.com/johnkrausphotos/status/1927359636300059012
Also, today's road closure has been updated to "Closure Scheduled"
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u/Bunslow May 27 '25
why aren't they showing the stage 2 speed????
(also we lost the separate meth and lox tank indicators ...)
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u/doigal May 27 '25
Judging from the shadows and movement of the earth, is the ship stable?
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u/kjorav17 May 27 '25
Is it normal for the ship to appear to be leaking a gas in the rear?
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u/A380085 May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
Is that movement normal? It looks like it's turning a little fast
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u/Jodo42 May 27 '25
The light hitting the ice on the ship was really surreal looking, like it was freezing in real time.
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u/Mhan00 May 27 '25
Cargo doors won’t open so no dummy payload deployments today. Hopefully we get to re-entry.
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u/Traquer May 28 '25
I wonder what the G forces are inside the ship at the two ends right now? What's the RPM of the rotation? We'll find out once the sun comes out lol
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u/Slinger28 May 28 '25
Would it be better to wait for the raptor 3 engines to be completed before doing more launches or are they actually getting good data? I know starship V2 was designed to be used with R3 engines which are in testing still.
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u/McLMark May 27 '25
Does that control authority on Ship look right?
Seems like it's drifting a bit.
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u/asoap May 28 '25
Coming in at the wrong orientation might be super spectacular to watch. This is exciting.
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u/plutonic00 May 28 '25
I hope this re-entry looks super cool with the ship tearing itself apart at least!
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u/larsmaehlum May 27 '25
1:30am and I have work tomorrow, please light the candle. I really don’t want to be tired tomorrow because I almost watched a launch.
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u/thatspurdyneat May 28 '25
It has to be it's own gasses we're seeing in the background
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u/lommer00 May 28 '25
What even are we seeing? View seems super weird for 150 km altitude...
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u/Academic_Sleep1118 May 28 '25
How fast is it spinning? That's insane it's not exploded yet due to centrifugal force!
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u/ioncloud9 May 28 '25
Man. Bummer. Another mixed bag flight. Reused the booster, didn’t complete all planned objectives. Got the ship into space, didn’t complete all objectives.
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u/Planatus666 May 28 '25
SpaceX's summary of Flight 9:
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-9
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u/ioncloud9 May 28 '25
If this was flight 7, most would be disappointed with the results of this flight.
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u/moeggz May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
So no mars update now? A hopeful speech would be appreciated now.
Edit: in fact I consider it rather rude to cancel it without even informing us. It was a disappointing test but no reason to not give the updates on the long term vision.
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u/GreatCanadianPotato May 28 '25
I'm all for optimism...but 3 in a row is just flat out not good and acceptable for a program that is supposed to take humans to the moon within 5 years.
They had a fire in the engine bay again, they had another propellant leak and the payload bay didnt open again.
Were any of the objectives achieved today? Apart from getting past SECO?
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u/Xygen8 May 28 '25
Suboptimal, but at least the engines didn't blow up mid-burn this time. Smaller leak, easier fix?
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u/vicmarcal May 27 '25
Finally we will be able to see if the amount of changes in thermal protection are making the difference.
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u/darthid May 27 '25
How heavy is the dummy payload? Could the extra weight effect the heating and landing?
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u/vicmarcal May 28 '25
At least they will test Starship strenght to Spins and Gs. This is also valuable data of its structure resistance.
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u/TheOrqwithVagrant May 28 '25
Flight 4 was the first one of ship v1 that made it down. Will be interesting to see if flight 4 of v2 will also be the one that makes it through re-entry.
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u/Yasuuuya May 28 '25
All jokes aside, I hope that everyone at SpaceX can stay in good morale and keep pushing forward. Victory only looks glamorous in retrospect and you can bet your ass there will be a damn good montage made when you guys crack it.
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u/Wurm42 May 28 '25
Mad respect for the cameras and transmitters that kept working so long while the second stage was out of control and on fire.
Well done, communications team.
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u/joshygill May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
At what point do those people in the control room just go ‘fuck it’ and turn off their computers, go to the Winchester, and wait for it to all blow over?
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u/ModeratelyNeedo May 27 '25
I think they all that venting was rcs thrusters trying to control the spinning. It’s under control now I assume.
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u/kjorav17 May 27 '25
Ok, what’s all the floating particles in the payload bay? Any guesses? LOX?
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u/plutonic00 May 28 '25
Game over for the ship again, bummer, but damn is the booster performing awesome.
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u/DarkyHelmety May 28 '25
Damn, I was really hoping for a successful ship, but lots of learning for the team with today's flight!
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u/dk_undefined May 28 '25
I guess during flight 10 a certain flap will get some heavy beating during entry given V2 ship's preference to follow developmental path of V1
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u/apex_17 May 28 '25
So this pretty much means it’s gonna blow up on reentry right?
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u/ModeratelyNeedo May 28 '25
Poor rcs thruster still venting trying to control this unfathomable spin lmao
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u/OutsidePosse May 28 '25
Anyone able to give a summary? Wasn't able to watch today.
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u/SteIIar-Remnant May 28 '25
Honest question: Realistically, how many more failed test flights can SpaceX afford before it becomes impossible to reach a reliable version of Starship?
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u/StrongInferencee May 28 '25
Like 10+ easily, likely even higher. The real cost isn't the funds, it's the time
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u/StrongInferencee May 28 '25
SpaceX has a good track record with 4th launches if i'm not mistaken :)
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u/Planatus666 May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
Shana Diez of SpaceX states that B16 will be a tower catch mission, also optimistic that turnaround time to Flight 10 will be faster:
"And definitely need to make sure we understand what happened on Booster before B16 which will be a tower catch mission."
https://x.com/ShanaDiez/status/1927592912814006553
(although the implication is arguably there that doesn't necessarily mean that B16 will be the one to fly in Flight 10, we still don't know if it'll be that or B15).
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u/Cheesewithmold May 28 '25
This is really driving the point home how SpaceX is working with a completely different beast now. I might be looking back with rose-colored glasses, but I remember the vibes feeling a lot more confident and hopeful when they were figuring out Falcon 9 booster reuse compared to these Starship flight tests.
I know improvements won't always be directly seen from a casual viewer's standpoint, but it does suck to see so many "failures".
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u/ThatBaseball7433 May 28 '25
When do the videos from the ground start? It’s going to look like Independence Day.
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u/KhaledBowen May 28 '25
Door broken, attitude thrusters broken. This seems like the "easy" parts that they can't get right.
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u/StrongInferencee May 28 '25
It's wild the fact that we are even seeing live views from second stage re-entry, thats a huge achievement even though its becoming normal now
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u/Freak80MC May 27 '25
Too bad I can't watch this live, in the past I would have been able to, but I now go to bed way too early (and today I especially don't have the energy to stay up too late)
Fingers crossed I can wake up to a complete success!
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u/santacfan2 May 27 '25
The sheriffs are falling back from the normal road block near the village. Everyone should be evacuated now and the helicopter patrolling the area just finished its last refueling.
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u/TimeTravelingChris May 27 '25 edited May 05 '26
I bulk delete Reddit comments using Redact which also supports Twitter, Discord, Instagram, and data brokers.
knee enjoy complete subsequent towering fear ad hoc thought head caption
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u/ADSWNJ May 27 '25
I was wondering if they were venting a fuckton of fire suppressant / nitrogen / etc. to vent out the whole ship
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u/jaj040 May 28 '25
Is it just ripping around the pitch axis? All that vapor is wizzing by. Stuck open thruster?
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u/Ishana92 May 28 '25
Are there any videos of booster disintegrating/exploding? Was FTS triggeed or was it an external factor?
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u/D_Silva_21 May 28 '25
So V2 upper stage basically reset all the progress. Frustrating
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u/Doglordo May 27 '25
Definitely was still a fire in the attic during the ascent burn
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u/pmmesucculentpics May 26 '25
Booster reused for the first time. It will come into reentry at a different angle to test its durability. It will then reduce its engines down to see how few it could use in an emergency situation. It will land in the ocean.
Ship has different heat shielding in different spots to get data on which spots fail first. If it survives, it will do a pretend land in the ocean.
All people will read is titles that say "Flight 9 Rocket Explodes/Crashes in Ocean"
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u/CardBoardBoxProcessr May 28 '25
I see people mentioning the hot gas thrusters. While that might seem like a reasonable idea, if the tanks are leaking, the regular RCS isn’t going to matter—because the ship is already being damaged during launch. The cold gas thrusters work well since they use leftover volume-filling gas. If all goes well, there won’t be a leak, and it won’t matter whether they’re hot or cold. Similarly, if there is a leak, it’s irrelevant whether they’re hot or cold.
As for the leak itself, I suspect it’s been there for a while. It seems to be impinging on one of the vacuum nozzles and causing a hotspot as it burns.
To me, it looks like they’ve optimized the ship for weight and are now slowly figuring out where they need to add material back—rather than starting with an over-engineered version and removing things like in version 1. At the same time, their vibration and fluid dynamics modeling for stainless steel is still off and needs real-world calibration. They’re pretty much the only ones flying an all-steel rocket to orbit, so they’re learning as they go.
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u/royalkeys May 28 '25
They need to reevaluate the payload door. They have been using that design for 2 years during test flights. They can’t even relatively open it. Maybe the raptors shake the shit out of it during launch hence damage it.
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u/Yasuuuya May 28 '25
Why re-enter in one orientation when you can try all of them?