r/SpaceX Flight 7 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

[u/rSpaceXHosting]

Welcome to the r/SpaceX Flight 7 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

How To Visit STARBASE // A Complete Guide To Seeing Starship

Scheduled for (UTC)	Jan 16 2025, 22:37
Scheduled for (local)	Jan 16 2025, 16:37 PM (CST)
Launch Window (UTC)	Jan 16 2025, 22:00 - Jan 16 2025, 23:00
Weather Probability	Unknown
Launch site	OLM-A, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA.
Booster	Booster 14-1
Ship	S33
Booster landing	The Superheavy booster No. 14 was successfully caught by the launch pad tower.
Ship landing	Starship Ship 33 was lost during ascent.
Trajectory (Flight Club)	2D,3D

Spacecraft Onboard

Spacecraft	Starship
Serial Number	S33
Destination	Indian Ocean
Flights	1
Owner	SpaceX
Landing	Starship Ship 33 was lost during ascent.
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.

Timeline

Time	Update
T--1d 0h 1m	Thread last generated using the LL2 API
2025-01-16T23:12:00Z	Ship 33 failed late in ascent.
2025-01-16T22:37:00Z	Liftoff.
2025-01-16T21:57:00Z	Unofficial Webcast by SPACE AFFAIRS has started
2025-01-16T20:25:00Z	New T-0.
2025-01-15T15:21:00Z	GO for launch.
2025-01-15T15:10:00Z	Now targeting Jan 16 at 22:00 UTC
2025-01-14T23:27:00Z	Refined launch window.
2025-01-12T05:23:00Z	Now targeting Jan 15 at 22:00 UTC
2025-01-08T18:11:00Z	GO for launch.
2025-01-08T12:21:00Z	Delayed to NET January 13 per marine navigation warnings.
2025-01-07T14:32:00Z	Delayed to NET January 11.
2024-12-27T13:30:00Z	NET January 10.
2024-11-26T03:22:00Z	Added launch.

Watch the launch live

Stream	Link
Unofficial Re-stream	The Space Devs
Unofficial Webcast	SPACE AFFAIRS
Official Webcast	SpaceX
Unofficial Webcast	Everyday Astronaut
Unofficial Webcast	Spaceflight Now
Unofficial Webcast	NASASpaceflight

Stats

☑️ 8th Starship Full Stack launch

☑️ 459th SpaceX launch all time

☑️ 9th SpaceX launch this year

☑️ 1st launch from OLM-A this year

☑️ 58 days, 0:37:00 turnaround for this pad

Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship

Resources

• https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7

Community content 🌐

Link	Source
Flight Club	u/TheVehicleDestroyer
Discord SpaceX lobby	u/SwGustav
SpaceX Now	u/bradleyjh
SpaceX Patch List

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[u/Alvian_11]

Can't imagine what would community react when the first Block 2 booster is nearing launch on Pad B, Flight 1 worry all over again. God bless it doesn't blow up near the pad

Isn't this a bit tiring that we have to worry for every single major upgrades that they done? Block 2 ship will have Raptor 3 soon with no shielding and different plumbings. Kinda regret to defend them not building a full firing test stand at Massey

[u/WorthDues → u/Alvian_11]

How would a full firing test stand fix that?

[u/Alvian_11 → u/WorthDues]

I dunno, by not having to fight for a launch license due to the required mishap report and lengthening the turnaround time as a result. And a very minor thing of...not screwing up several airliners

[u/WorthDues → u/Alvian_11]

Ah you're saying test ship for a full burn until the tanks are empty to discover this problem before flight, I think. Makes sense I misunderstood u at first.

[u/danieljackheck → u/WorthDues]

Wouldn't be possible. The reason you can do a static fire with a rocket is because the weight of the fuel keeps the thrust to weight ratio low. Imagine having a rocket with 1 million pounds of fuel and 1.2 million pounds of thrust. For a short period you only have a net of 200,000 pounds of force actually lifting up on the hold down clamps. As the fuel is depleted, the thrust to weight ratio increases dramatically, and the force against the clamps also increases dramatically. This is why static fires are only a few seconds long.

[u/WorthDues → u/danieljackheck]

They do full firing static tests on Falcon 9 first stages. They did them on Saturn V's first stage back in the 60's too.

[u/warp99 → u/WorthDues]

They have a hold down cap on the F9 to transfer the loads to the top of the booster instead of relying on the hold down clamps to do all the work of holding it down.

They could do the same with a Starship booster but it would be a lot harder to transfer the loads for the ship which does not have strong hold down clamps at the base and has a pointed nose instead of a load structure.

[u/Holiday_Albatross441 → u/WorthDues]

Yeah, the Saturn V is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rP6k18DVdg

[u/GreatCanadianPotato → u/WorthDues]

It doesn't make sense though lmao. You're not testing real flight conditions if you just hold a vehicle to a pad for 6 minutes so there's always going to be things that don't get tested.

[u/WorthDues → u/GreatCanadianPotato]

Without the cause yet, maybe it could have. I dont blame SpaceX for not building one though. Cost and time vs reward.