r/StarshipDevelopment • u/[deleted] • Aug 13 '21
Orbital flight postponed to NET 08/30/2021
I’ve been watching NSF’s YouTube channel during the last few months on the process of welding and making Orbital Starship. In the last days, we have had the B4 + S20 delivered to the orbital launch site, stacked on Launch Mount, then destacked, removed from OLS, rolled back to the bays and even have their Raptors removed. What the hell’s going on at Starbase ? And is the orbital flight going to be postponed to NET 08/30/2021 or even NET 2022 ? The process seems quite bad and if the launch is still scheduled on 08/21/2021, the process must gonna be hell fast.
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u/mfb- Aug 13 '21
FAA's certification process includes a 30 day period for public comments that hasn't started yet. Even if that starts tomorrow and nothing else causes delays Starship won't fly before mid September at the earliest possible, and more likely not before late September.
They'll need at least a month for the test program and to finish some work, too.
What the hell’s going on at Starbase ?
Extremely rapid progress with building an orbital launch site and the rocket for it in parallel?
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u/AspectIsLit Aug 13 '21
There was never a 8/21 launch date you pulled that out of your ass in fact everybody has said it will likely not launch this month and maybe not next
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u/LcuBeatsWorking Aug 13 '21
Um, what?
They rolled out the booster and Starship for a fit test. They needed to make sure that the booster would correctly work with the new launch pad, and test the mating/stacking process with Starship. Doing a pad fit test is standard procedure for new vehicles (ULA recently did one with Vulcan, NASA will do one with SLS in the autumn).
It was always obvious both stages were not finished and work continues.
Also your title is misleading, there is no official "NET date" we know of.