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Starship V1 · Thursday, April 20, 2023

Starship Flight 1

First integrated flight test. Cleared the pad, lost multiple engines, tumbled, and was destroyed ~4 minutes in.

Result
Failure
Super Heavy
Lost
Starship
Lost
Duration
~4 min

Flight replay

Watch Starship Flight 1

Video: SpaceX, the full webcast. It starts at liftoff (42:10). Scrub back for the countdown.

The flight

What Happened

The first fully-stacked Starship and Super Heavy launch. The vehicle cleared the pad but lost several Raptor engines during ascent, failed to separate, began tumbling, and the flight termination system was triggered roughly four minutes after liftoff. The launch also caused significant damage to the orbital launch mount and sent debris across the surrounding area.

Firsts

  • First integrated flight test of the full Starship stack

Flight path

STARBASELOST
The two stages never separated, so the path ends on the climb. A dashed line is a stage that did not finish its plan.

Two stages

Booster and Ship

Super Heavy boosterLost
Lost: vehicle failed to separate and was destroyed by FTS
Starship upper stageLost
Lost: never separated from the booster

Objectives

  • First integrated launch of Super Heavy + Starship
  • Reach stage separation
  • Gather ascent data on the full stack

Anomalies

  • Multiple Raptor engines out during ascent
  • Stage separation never occurred; vehicle tumbled
  • Flight termination triggered ~4 min after liftoff
  • Launch mount / pad damage and wide debris field

Sources