Starship’s eighth flight test lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 5:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 6. The
Super Heavy booster successfully lit its 33 Raptor engines and propelled Starship through a nominal
first-stage ascent.
Approximately two and a half minutes into flight, the Super Heavy booster
shutdown all but three of its Raptor engines as planned for hot-staging separation. Starship then
successfully lit its six Raptor engines and separated from the Super Heavy booster to continue its ascent
to space.
The Super Heavy booster then relit 11 of 13 planned Raptor engines and performed a
boostback burn to return itself to the launch site. As Super Heavy approached the launch site, it relit
12 of the planned 13 engines at the start of its landing burn to successfully slow the booster down. The
three center engines continued running to maneuver the booster to the launch and catch tower arms,
resulting in the third successful catch of a Super Heavy booster.
Starship continued its
ascent to its planned trajectory. Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft
portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines. This in turn led to a loss of
attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship. Final contact with Starship came
approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.
Warren Buffett(3496)
goldfisch(13)
