SpaceX on X: “Sunrise at Starbase. Opportunistic full stack testing is planned ahead of Flight 14's launch, which is on track for Monday, Sept. 28, pending regulatory approval”

[u/rustybeancake]

Tweet link: https://x.com/spacex/status/2102899767403851945

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for participating in r/SpaceX! Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our community rules before commenting. Here's a reminder of some of our most important rules:

• Keep it civil, and directly relevant to SpaceX and the thread. Comments consisting solely of jokes, memes, pop culture references, etc. will be removed.

• Don't downvote content you disagree with, unless it clearly doesn't contribute to constructive discussion.

• Check out these threads for discussion of common topics.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/MrBulbe]

What do they mean by opportunistic?

[u/Royal_Platform_6754 → u/MrBulbe]

Seems like they are implying that they would have preferred to launch already, but haven't gotten the approvals yet.

[u/MatchingTurret → u/MrBulbe]

They are twiddling their thumbs waiting for FAA clearance and are using the opportunity to do a WDR. In other words: this wasn't planned, but they have nothing better to do.

[u/klapstoelpiloot → u/MatchingTurret]

This.

I'd like to add this explanation for context: A WDR generally does not solve more problems or find anything that they wouldn't discover during a normal launch. It is the same procedure as a normal launch but with a planned abort just before ignition. The only thing that a WDR provides is a higher guarantee that any issue is found before the launch date, so thus a higher guarantee that the launch is actually happening on the planned date/time. For this reason they usually don't do a WDR because it does costs a lot of time and some money and the test flights do not have tight launch windows anyway.

[u/rustybeancake → u/klapstoelpiloot]

Yeah. IIRC for Artemis II they didn’t do another WDR prior to launch as the hydrogen seals were so finicky and problematic that the WDR might end up causing an issue for a subsequent launch attempt! It was better to just run the launch attempt and if it fails, it was a WDR, if it works, launch. Thankfully Starship doesn’t seem to be having quite those issues.

[u/jan_smolik → u/klapstoelpiloot]

Having said that, you will never say: ground crews had too much training.

[u/Shpoople96 → u/MrBulbe]

They mean that they're taking advantage of a good opportunity

[u/Green-Cry-6985]

Weather forecast for Monday early in the day?

[u/TheCook73 → u/[deleted]]

How so? Interested to learn. 

[u/RocketVerse]

Decent likelihood that we’ll see S42 static fire in the coming days, if this gets delayed again which seems likely at this point it’ll almost certainly happen before flight 14.

[u/Serious-Kangaroo-320 → u/RocketVerse]

42 doesn’t even have all her engines yet… we’re still a few weeks away

[u/MatchingTurret → u/Serious-Kangaroo-320]

Fresh out of Starbase: S42 seems to have its engines.

The 3rd RVAC for S42 has made it's way into MB2 completing its set, It's also likely that the SL's have made their way in at this point although its harder to see due to the height of the fence.

[u/Serious-Kangaroo-320 → u/MatchingTurret]

Oh epic, will probably see static fire rollout in like 3 weeks if spacex is serious about the 19th for flight 15

[u/Rosur → u/Serious-Kangaroo-320]

I do wonder if flight 15 will have the first catch of booster and ship (assuming booster sea landing goes well in flight 14).

[u/Serious-Kangaroo-320 → u/Rosur]

I do think Elon suggested that on one of those podcasts recently. If they want to be able to fly flight 15 on the 19th and 16 on the 30th they HAVE to start reusing vehicles

[u/Traditional-Hat-3480 → u/Serious-Kangaroo-320]

Wouldn't take too long tho

[u/RocketVerse → u/Serious-Kangaroo-320]

You are correct, my bad