SpaceX's Starship: All three flight tests and key milestones
Analyze all three flight test details and see the improvements yourself.
Elon Musk is a very complicated businessman, billionaire, and influencer. I don’t agree with his public statements and political opinions. But I wouldn't downgrade SpaceX related news because of this dislike.
I usually see test flight news tend to emphasize failures and explosions, creating a negative outlook. News headlines shouldn't only focus on test flight failures. They should also highlight the progress and lessons learned, not just the explosions.
In this blog1, I’m capturing some major key points from the streamed videos. All the video links used for information gathering are attached, so you can crosscheck for further information. And then you can decide if it was a “failure” or not.
You can also see the perspective of Chris Hadfield - a Canadian astronaut and engineer.
Starship overview
Height: 121 m / 397 ft2
Diameter: 9 m / 29.5 ft
Starship: It uses 6 Raptor engines, with 3 optimized for vacuum environments.
Super Heavy booster: This massive first stage is powered by a whopping 33 Raptor engines.
Raptor engines: The thrust of a single Raptor engine, which is around 230 metric tons of force3.
Payload capacity: 100 – 150 t (fully reusable)4
First integrated flight test
(Starship IFT-1) April 20, 2023
Data collected from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1wcilQ58hI
Launch vehicle
Ship 24 & Booster 7.
Mission objective
The primary objective was to launch high, separate, and splashdown, testing basic systems for future orbital missions.
Key milestones
T+00:00:20: 175 km/h • 0 km (Altitude) • 30 engines5
1 km: T+00:00:28 • 287 km/h • 30 engines
5 km: T+00:00:58 • 660 km/h • 29 engines
10 km: T+00:01:24 • 906 km/h • 28 engines
Supersonic6: T+00:01:44 (Altitude: 15 km) • 1235 km/h • 27 engines
20 km: T+00:01:58 • 1530 km/h • 28 engines
39 km7: T+00:03:08 • 1666 km/h • 28 engines
50 km:
N.A.75 km:
N.A.Stage separation:
N.A.Hypersonic:
N.A.100 km:
N.A.
Booster
Maximum altitude(h): 39 km • 1711 km/h • T+00:03:21 • 28 engines
Event: Exploded at T+00:03:59 • 29 km • 2119 km/h • 28 engines
Ship
Maximum altitude(h): 39 km • 1689 km/h • T+00:03:21
Event: Exploded at T+00:03:59 • 29 km • 2149 km/h
Status
The mission ends at T+00:04:01
Engine failures, loss of control, and ultimately exploded during the flight.
Second integrated flight test
(Starship IFT-2) November 18, 2023
Data collected from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgcqWV1k5Jw
Launch vehicle
Ship 25 & Booster 9.
Mission objective
The mission objective was to get through staging without blowing up and test a new engine staging method.
Key milestones
T+00:00:20: 321 km/h • 0 km • 33 engines
1 km: T+00:00:21 • 359 km/h • 33 engines
5 km: T+00:00:45 • 872 km/h • 33 engines
10 km: T+00:01:03 • 1215 km/h • 33 engines
Supersonic: T+00:01:04 (Altitude: 10 km) • 1235 km/h • 33 engines
20 km: T+00:01:29 • 1942 km/h • 33 engines
39 km: T+00:02:02 • 3526 km/h • 33 engines
50 km: T+00:02:17 • 4385 km/h • 33 engines
75 km: T+00:02:50 • 5578 km/h • 11 engines
Stage separation: T+00:02:50 • Altitude 75 km • 5581 km/h • 12 engines
Hypersonic8: T+00:03:14 (Altitude: 91 km) • 6172 km/h • 6 engines (Ship)
100 km: T+00:03:29 • 6524 km/h
Booster
Maximum altitude(h): 90 km • 3818 km/h • T+00:03:21 • 0 engines
Event: Exploded at T+00:03:21 • 90 km • 3818 km/h • 0 engines
Ship
Maximum altitude(h): 149 km • 19023 km/h • T+00:07:21 • 6 engines
Event: Self-destruct at T+00:08:06 • 148 km • 24124 km/h • 0 engines
Status
The mission ends at T+00:12:48
The primary objective was not achieved due to issues with engine relighting on the booster, resulting in the loss of the vehicle.
Third integrated flight test
(Starship IFT-3) March 14, 2024
Data collected from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJgaT2mw36c
Launch vehicle
Ship 28 & Booster 10.
Mission objective
The mission objective was to achieve orbital flight, test engine restarts, and fuel transfers in space, critical steps for future deep space missions.
Key milestones
T+00:00:20: 304 km/h • 0 km • 33 engines
1 km: T+00:00:22 • 346 km/h • 33 engines
5 km: T+00:00:46 • 859 km/h • 33 engines
10 km: T+00:01:05 • 1196 km/h • 33 engines
Supersonic: T+00:01:07 (Altitude: 10 km) • 1235 km/h • 33 engines
20 km: T+00:01:31 • 1939 km/h • 33 engines
39 km: T+00:02:04 • 3561 km/h • 33 engines
50 km: T+00:02:20 • 4414 km/h • 33 engines
75 km: T+00:02:53 • 5665 km/h • 13 engines
Stage separation: T+00:02:50 • Altitude 73 km • 5661 km/h • 3 engines
Hypersonic: T+00:03:12 (Altitude: 87 km) • 6172 km/h • 6 engines (Ship)
100 km: T+00:03:34 • 6693 km/h
Booster
Maximum altitude(h): 106 km • 541 km/h • T+00:04:27 • 0 engines
Event: During the descent, it encountered issues and ended in a hard splashdown at T+00:07:01 • 1112 km/h • 1 engine
Ship
Maximum altitude(h): 234 km • 26168 km/h • T+00:23:45 • 0 engines9
Event: Re-entered the atmosphere but lost contact10 near splashdown at T+00:50:20 • 65 km • 25707 km/h • 0 engines
Status
The mission ends at T+01:06:02
The test flight achieved several key goals, including reaching orbital speed11 for the first time. However, the Super Heavy booster did not survive the intended splashdown, leading to partial success.
Now what do you think?
I absolutely endorse SpaceX. I’m a follower of space missions and Learning about Space and Astronomy is one of my hobbies.
It's crucial to me that information about these missions is presented accurately, without media interpretation. I believe people can make conclusions if they're looking at the real facts. Look at each mission's objective and final status.
Flight Test 3 successfully reached space, with the Starship vehicle achieving orbital speed for the first time during the historic third test flight.
Only Starship's third test flight reached space12. There's no universally agreed upon height for the official start of "space," but generally, it's considered to be the Karman Line, which is roughly 100 kilometers above Earth's sea level.
Disclosure: I asked Perplexity for the objectives, perspectives/scale, and final status.
If Musk's prediction becomes reality, it would be remarkable to think that in just five years, the bright red planet we occasionally see in the night sky might hold human-made objects!
You can see more SpaceX Starship photos on my Pinterest board.
Special thanks to Starlink: We got absolutely stunning quality live video streaming from the ship and booster, an awesome bonus!
I really wish Substack had some table and graph features.
To put this into perspective, a typical story in a building is around 3 meters high. Therefore, the total height of the SpaceX Starship system would be equivalent to approximately 40 stories of a building!
The thrust of one Raptor engine is roughly equivalent to the force exerted by 10 to 15 Boeing 747 jet engines combined. In terms of weight, the thrust of a single Raptor engine is comparable to the force required to lift approximately 50 to 75 mid-sized cars off the ground simultaneously.
Can be viewed in scale as being able to carry payloads equivalent to the weight of about 100 to 150 small cars or roughly 10 to 15 adult elephants to low Earth orbit (LEO).
1,234 km/h to 6,170 km/h (The speed of sound in dry air at 20 °C is approximately 1,234.8 km/h).
Added 39 km as a milestone because the first flight only reached 39 km.
Greater than 6,170 km/h
Last telemetry (the process of collecting and transmitting data from remote sources to a receiving equipment for monitoring) signals received via Starlink from Starship
Orbital speed refers to the minimum velocity a spacecraft needs to maintain in order to remain in a stable orbit around a celestial body, such as a planet. The orbital speed of an object in a low Earth orbit (LEO) is approximately 7.8 km/s (28,000 km/h). This speed allows the spacecraft to balance the gravitational pull of the Earth with its forward velocity, enabling it to continuously fall towards the Earth while moving forward at a speed that matches the curvature of the planet, resulting in a stable orbit.
The Karman Line is a guideline, not a strict boundary. While the Karman Line is a common reference, other factors can be considered when talking about reaching space. For example, some definitions might consider the ability to maintain an orbit around Earth as a true marker of being in space.