SpaceX Starship Flight 13 livestream [video]
SpaceX’s 13th Starship test flight drew praise for a powerful launch, successful on-orbit Raptor relight, Starlink v3 satellite deployment, and an unusually gentle ocean splashdown that left the vehicle largely intact and streaming data, offering valuable heat-shield insights. Commenters note that while the ship’s performance is rapidly improving, booster engine relights and slosh dynamics during the flip maneuver remain a key technical challenge. The thread also surfaces broader tensions around Elon Musk’s conduct and politics, with some separating ethical concerns from enthusiasm for the engineering progress, and others arguing the two are harder to disentangle.
Flight outcome and objectives
- Launch, stage separation, and ascent described as very strong; Raptor 3 engines credited with much higher initial acceleration.
- Overall flight viewed as “almost but not quite entirely successful”: most major test objectives met, but booster landing burn underperformed.
Booster landing burn and chopstick catcher
- Landing burn apparently lit far fewer engines than planned (about 5 vs ~13), leading to a harder, faster water impact.
- Multiple comments say the planned trajectory keeps the booster offshore until everything is nominal; even in a catch attempt it first aims past the tower, then swings in.
- Some note rockets have self‑destruct capabilities to avoid hitting ground infrastructure.
Ship reentry, splashdown, and heat shield
- Reentry visuals (plasma, continuous comms) praised; live Starlink telemetry called unprecedented.
- Ship achieved an exceptionally soft ocean landing and did not explode; some viewers expected a tip-over and tank rupture “by physics,” but this time it remained mostly intact.
- Heat shield seen as a major remaining risk: fewer burn‑throughs than before, but still missing tiles; consensus that refurbishment is still required between flights.
Raptor engines and performance
- On‑orbit engine relight on the ship was successful and highlighted as a major milestone.
- Booster-side relights are seen as an ongoing weak spot; commenters speculate about propellant slosh and high‑G maneuvers (~11 G during flip/boost‑back) stressing plumbing.
Satellite deployment and suborbital strategy
- 20 Starlink V3 satellites were deployed on a suborbital “speedrun” for ~20 minutes of in‑space testing; they reentered soon after.
- Starship is still flying suborbital to avoid uncontrolled debris if deorbit burns fail.
Recovery, ITAR, and sinking
- Discussion on whether the intact ship could be towed back: towing a huge, non‑seaworthy, potentially gas‑filled structure hundreds of miles is seen as risky.
- Others point out regulatory and ITAR concerns; standard plan is usually to ensure the vehicle eventually sinks, even by active means if necessary.
Materials and architecture debate
- Debate over stainless steel vs aluminum/carbon fiber: critics call steel a fatal design choice that dooms performance and leads to too many refueling launches.
- Supporters counter that steel’s temperature resilience and ease of modification have been crucial to surviving test failures and iterating quickly.
- Some skepticism that Starship will meet deep‑space goals; others offer literal bets on its eventual high‑apogee success.
Musk, ethics, and politics
- Large subthread on Musk’s personal conduct (online harassment, alleged Nazi‑style gestures, political alignment).
- Some argue these behaviors are reprehensible and inseparable from how they feel about SpaceX; others see overinterpretation or emphasize legal vs moral standards.
- Several try to separate admiration for SpaceX’s engineering from views on Musk or broader US politics; some explicitly “root against” SpaceX because of him.
Culture and hiring at SpaceX
- Observers note the broadcast features mostly young men; one explanation is harsh work‑life balance driving older staff away.
- Another commenter reports getting an offer near age 40, indicating older hires still occur.