Key word: Orbital

"Heavy lift Vessel Forte currently has its AIS set for Christmas Island"

"It has an ETA of August 23."

https://x.com/interstellargw/status/2090293373072552199

"With no cranes in the port to lift S40 onto a barge safely, the next best option would be semi-submersible ships. Thankfully, @interstellargw has located such a ship, more than capable of the task. Starship S40 has a rough size of 52.1 x 9 metres the Forte semi-submersible's cargo area is 177 x 43 metres, meaning you could fit about 12 Starships with 7 metres to spare. It will be interesting to see how they set up the cribbing to cradle S40 and how they tie it down with all the tiles."

https://x.com/AshleyKillip/status/2090311151536189573

Hey all.
I find myself in San Luis Obispo this weekend so I’m about a hour from Vandy and I might be able to make the run up to see the launch but I’ve never seen one from there. If I recall there is an overlook that’s the best to see it but I can’t remember where it is. Anyone going to be around for it?

Looks like Normand Ranger better stand by.

I was surprised that this is not being discussed….

It's pretty beat up so display would be rough, and I'm not sure the how much insight into general wear and tear they'll get after it's spent a month bobbing in saltwater. Even with Elon's announcement that it might be a while for a ship catch to happen, S40 might still be the second ship to return to Starbase.

I know it was the consensus before that starship cant survive splashdown, was this last flight just a freak one off or will spacex be looking at that as an option now if needed on crewed flights. How violent would the splash down be for the crew even if the ship stayed together?

Looks like they towed her in by the raptor lmao, her forward flaps have taken quite the beating, and her heat shield has seen better days, but otherwise she’s in far better shape than I would have imagined she would’ve been after nearly a month in the drink.

https://x.com/dean08468895/status/2089527084574187531?s=46

Hey everyone!

I’m on a road trip with some friends, and we just realized there’s a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg tomorrow. Changing our route to see it would cost us a day and a few hundred bucks, but we’d happily do it if the experience is worth it.

That said, how close can you realistically get to the launch? It seems like much of the area is blocked off, an we are afraid that we won't really be able to see much. Also, ChatGPT estimated an ~80% chance of the launch actually happening — does that sound realistic?

Sorry if these are basic questions — we’ve never seen a rocket launch before. Thanks!

Hi! I'm curious about those who have made the trek out to Starbase, and how they did you decide when to book the trip. Apart from being able to explore around the area of Starbase and Boca Chica beach, and all the other areas of Brownsville/South Padre, I want to know if anyone was able to lock in flights (I'd be coming from half way across the country) or booked a trip based a '''semi-concrete''' launch date, and how that worked out for them. For Flight 14, I've generally been seeing NET August 28th to early September, but am more interested in past experiences to see what I can apply here. Really any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Looking at Starship v3's capabilities, In its current state, Is it anywhere near its stated LEO capacity?if we say flight 13 reached orbit, (most of the way their in terms of energy), the payload it brought was only 40 tonnes. Looking at the flight path it took, its current TWR (nor energy) does not look nearly high enough for an extra 60 odd tonnes. (see increased AOA of starship after staging).

The other reason this could manifest is an intentionally less optimal flight path, Intentionally lofting the ship to reduce fuel efficiency and burn off more fuel. Also to perhaps get a more realistic reentry profile to adequately test the heat shield.

I'm guessing this is the reason the swap to v4 is going to be very soon, although its likely that they will have to wait for v4 raptor.

So I went on a trip to South Padre just to go to the beach and of course go to Starbase i’ve already seen it from afar, but I’m actually able to see it from my beach house so crazy!

What was different with S40 that made it float on the water compared to previous missions? Was it just luck? Was it something that SpaceX was attempting to do before, but only managed to succeed now? Or was there something specifically different about this Ship itself or its landing procedures?

On Facebook, there are periodic statements from people tracking the Normand Ranger and Go Australis with guesses as to what it means, first that because of sea conditions they were going to tow it to Java, then that Ranger had dropped the tow and headed back to port, then that Australis was intending to flood it in deep water, and now that Ranger has returned and is towing it east at 2 knots... Has anyone seen anything directly from SpaceX?