Starship Flight Test 4

Starship Flight Test 4
Starship 11/29 lifting off
Type	Integrated Orbital Flight Test
Location	Launch Site
Status	Launched
Flights	1
Flight info
Launch dates	June 6, 2024 at 7:50 am CDT
Duration	1:05:48
Outcome	B11 soft splashdown in GOM, and S29 soft splashdown in Indian Ocean
Starship development
Next	Starship Flight Test 5
Previous	Starship Flight Test 3
See also	Starship 11/29, Ship 29 (S29) and Booster 11 (B11)

Starship Flight Test 4 (unofficially IFT-4) was the 4th flight of Starship. The full stack lifted off on June 6, 2024 at 7:50 am CDT. Ship 29 (S29) and Booster 11 (B11) were the vehicles chosen for this mission. Both vehicles have received upgrades since Flight 3. Both the booster and the ship completed a successful soft splashdown. It thus completed the expected mission profile, although there were apparent issues with one of the forward flaps being heavily damaged during reentry. The FAA concluded on June 12 that they wouldn't require a mishap investigation.

Gallery

Starship 11/29 ahead of liftoff. c SpaceX

Starship 11/29 ahead of liftoff. c SpaceX

c SpaceX

Liftoff as seen from OLIT. c SpaceX

c SpaceX

Liftoff. c SpaceX

c SpaceX

S29 during controlled reentry

Liftoff as seen from OLIT. c SpaceX

B11 landing burn and soft splashdown. c SpaceX

S29 during reentry. c SpaceX

Slow motion of lift off. c SpaceX

Resources

Streams

• Official SpaceX Stream on X
• NSF
• Everyday Astronaut
• WAI
• Senkrechtstarter (German)

Recap and Analysis Videos

• SpaceX
• NSF
• LabPadre
• Scott Manley
• Marcus House
• WAI
• Everyday Astronaut: SlowMo
• RGV: Comparison of OLM and steel plate after the four flight tests
• Ellie in Space and Elon Musk

Pre-launch info

• Everyday Astronaut
• WAI
• NSF

Post-launch information

09 October 2024 - Landing accuracy

Jeff Foust: "Updated with some comments from another committee meeting today by SpaceX's Bill Gerstenmaier, who said the previous Super Heavy landed in the ocean "with half a centimeter accuracy," giving confidence for the upcoming catch attempt."

22-24 September 2024 - Recovery of B11 parts

c Elon Musk

On 22 September, Elon Musk shared a picture of the engine section of B11 being recovered from the sea.

Gav Cornwell on 24 September: "HOS Ridgewind, the ship that recovered the remains of Booster 11 offshore, has departed from Altamira in Mexico and is heading for Brownsville. Arrival ETA is in the port schedule for 6am local on Wednesday. I'm making the educated guess that parts were not offloaded in Mexico."

29 July 2024 - Sonic Boom

With each flight of Starship and the Super Heavy booster, we get closer to our goal of making life multiplanetary. The most important advancement to make this happen is full and rapid reusability of the entire launch system, operating Starship like an airplane which is fully and rapidly reusable after each flight. To do this, we have designed Starship’s upper stage and the Super Heavy booster to be capable of returning to the launch site. The returning vehicles will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the return location.

A sonic boom is a brief, thunder-like noise a person on the ground hears when an aircraft or other object travels faster than the speed of sound. As a fast-moving object travels through the air, it pushes the air aside and creates a wave of pressure which eventually reaches the ground. The change in air pressure associated with a sonic boom, known as overpressure, increases only a few pounds per square foot. A person could experience a similar pressure change by riding down several floors in an elevator. What makes sonic booms audible is the quick speeds at which the pressure change occurs.

Generally, the only impact to those in the surrounding area of a sonic boom is the brief noise. There are many variables that determine the impact of sonic booms, including the mass, shape and size of the object traveling at high speeds, along with its altitude and flight path. External factors like weather conditions can also affect the intensity of a sonic boom. The strongest effects of the sonic boom’s pressure change are localized to the area directly beneath the vehicle, concentrated under the rocket’s flight path and the landing site.

Sonic booms in spaceflight have typically only been experienced by observers on Earth when encountering vehicles designed to be reused, such as SpaceX’s Falcon family of rockets. When the first stage booster of a Falcon rocket returns for landing, its size and speed generate multiple sonic booms heard on the ground as a double clap of thunder. Similar sonic booms were heard during the return and landing of the NASA’s space shuttle. In each case, the sonic boom marks the end of just one in a series of missions for the vehicle returning from flight.

Data gathered from the first ever Super Heavy landing burn and splashdown on Starship’s fourth flight test indicates that while Super Heavy’s sonic boom will be more powerful than those generated by Falcon landings, it does not pose any risk of injury to those in the surrounding areas. The strongest effects will be localized to the area immediately around the Starbase launch pad. This area is cleared well in advance of launch and has been rigorously designed to withstand the environments of launching and returning the most powerful rocket ever flown.

Sonic booms announce the return of rockets and spacecraft built to be reused. With Starship, they’ll signal the arrival of a rapidly reusable future in spaceflight to travel to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

04 July 2024 - Recap video

SpaceX released a recap video on youtube. They also confirmed that a Booster catch was still planned for flight 5.

29 June 2024 - Everyday Astronaut and Elon Musk

Following flight test 4, Elon Musk made the following comments to Everyday Astronaut about the test:

• Consensus to strengthen flap hinge area; improve tile precision and thickness, reduce gaps.
• Future Starship versions to move forward flaps leeward; total front section redesign for better reliability and payload capacity.
• Right forward flap suffered most burn-through, likely due to larger tile gaps; required significant movement to maintain stability.
• Starship aerostable subsonically, but landed 6 km off target due to flap damage.
• Booster nearly on target; one engine didn’t light on liftoff/landing burn out of caution.
• Discussion ongoing about concerns; potential tower catch in the next flight.
• Ablative material tested; two layers effective, validating as backup to main tiles.
• Ready to fly a new vehicle within 30 to 60 days after a flight.
• Countdown smooth except for a minor ground propellant valve issue.

12 June 2024 - FAA

The FAA announced that they will not require a mishap investigation for the fourth flight test: "The FAA assessed the operations of the SpaceX Starship Flight 4 mission. All flight events for both Starship and Super Heavy appear to have occurred within the scope of planned and authorized activities."

11 June 2024 - Elon Musk on infrastructure damage

Elon Musk replied to Tim Dodd that there is "No major damage" to the launch infrastructure.

10 June 2024 - Elon Musk on flaps

"Left flap also got very hot, but was less damaged. Rear flaps seemed to be ok, based on their control authority, but probably lost some tiles."

08 June 2024 - Elon Musk

Elon revealed that the Booster landing was on target, while the ship landing was few kilometres off target due to the flap damage, thus paving the way for a chopstick catch of the Booster on the next flight

07 June 2024 - Elon Musk

Adressing an issue that came up during flight 4, the structural strength of forward flaps, Elon Mask answered to Everyday Astronaut: "We will have this nailed for next flight." "Note, a newer version of Starship has the forward flaps shifted leeward. This will help improve reliability, ease of manufacturing and payload to orbit."

07 June 2024 - Harry Stranger

Harry Stranger: "Despite the possibility of Superheavy drifting away/sinking after splashing down in the Gulf yesterday I decided to task a 35cm/pixel umbraspace SAR image of the estimated landing area. Sadly there was no sign of the booster anywhere [...]"

06 June - Elon Musk, Gwynne Shotwell, Bill Nelson

Elon Musk: "Today was a great day for humanity’s future as a spacefaring civilization! Nothing unites us more than working together towards inspiring objectives."

Elon Musk: "Why is Starship made of stainless steel? This article from 5 years ago explains the reasons. Worth noting that the ship would have failed on reentry if made of aluminum or carbon fiber, as they can’t take the heat." "We did switch to a passive (mostly) glass heat shield, rather than actively-cooled steel, as the latter was heavier, at least according to initial calculations"

Elon Musk: "Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean! Congratulations SpaceX team on an epic achievement!!" "I think we should try to catch the booster with the mechazilla arms next flight!"

Gwynne Shotwell: "Congratulations and a huge thank you to our extraordinary @SpaceX team! Successful Super Heavy launch and landing, “orbital” ship (that’s one tough cookie!) entry, engine relight and splashdown. I hope you enjoyed the views, the music and see you back soon for our next flight!"

Bill Nelson: "Congratulations @SpaceX on Starship's successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis—then looking onward to Mars."

06 June 2024 - SpaceX Web

Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data.

Starship delivered.

On June 6, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:50 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to deliver maximum excitement:

• The Super Heavy booster lifted off successfully and completed a full-duration ascent burn.

• Starship executed another successful hot-stage separation, powering down all but three of Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines before separating the vehicles.

• Following separation, the Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip maneuver, boostback burn to send it towards the splashdown zone, and jettison of the hot-stage adapter.

• The booster’s flight ended with a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico seven minutes and 24 seconds into the flight.

• Starship's six second stage Raptor engines successfully powered the vehicle to space and placed it on the planned trajectory for coast.

• Starship made a controlled reentry, successfully making it through the phases of peak heating and max aerodynamic pressure and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

• Starlink on Starship once again enabled real-time telemetry and live high-definition video throughout every phase of entry, with external cameras providing views all the way to the flight’s conclusion.

• Flight 4 ended with Starship igniting its three center Raptor engines and executing the first flip maneuver and landing burn since our suborbital campaign, followed by a soft splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean one hour and six minutes after launch.

The fourth flight of Starship made major strides to bring us closer to a rapidly reusable future. Its accomplishments will provide data to drive improvements as we continue rapidly developing Starship into a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an inspired fourth flight test of Starship! And thank you to our customers, Cameron County, spaceflight fans, and the wider community for the continued support and encouragement.

06 June 2024 - SpaceX Twitter

Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data. Starship delivered

Starship made a controlled reentry, successfully making it through the phases of peak heating and max aerodynamic pressure and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds

Launch information

A launch license was granted on 04 June 2024. The fourth flight test of Starship launched on the 6th of June, 2024 at 7:50 am CDT. The test profile of this mission was almost identical to the one on Flight 3, but there were some changes. The most notable of these changes are the jettison of the hot stage ring from B11 and a soft, engine powered landing for S29. Furthermore, an in-orbit relight of a Ship Raptor engine wasn't planned anymore.

Modifications have been implemented in the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) system to enable boosters to get further compared to previous flight.

Aims

Ahead of the launch, Elon Musk mentioned the main goal is to "get much deeper into the atmosphere during reentry, ideally through max heating."

The goals for the fourth flight per SpaceX: "The fourth flight test turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy. The primary objectives will be executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and achieving a controlled entry of Starship."

SpaceX also explained the missing tiles on S29: "We intentionally placed one thin heatshield tile and removed two tiles completely from the Ship to measure how hot things get without tiles in those locations, while also testing some thermal protection options." One of these options, which was tested on the thinner looking "tile", was actually an ablative material to test for having behind the primary shield in case a tile would fall off.

Although SpaceX didn't plan to recover any hardware of S11 or S29, parts of the booster aft and engine section was later salvaged from the ocean for inspections. Another test, SpaceX planned to conduct was a simulation of the booster catch procedure with the chopsticks, starting right after starship left the tower.

Countdown

01:15:00	SpaceX Flight Director conducts poll and verifies GO for propellant load
00:49:00	Ship fuel (liquid methane) load underway
00:47:00	Ship LOX (liquid oxygen) load underway
00:40:00	Booster fuel load underway
00:37:00	Booster LOX load underway
00:19:40	Raptor begins engine chill on booster and ship
00:03:20	Ship propellant load complete
00:02:50	Booster propellant load complete
00:00:30	SpaceX flight director verifies GO for launch
00:00:10	Flame deflector activation
00:00:03	Raptor ignition sequence begins
00:00:00	Excitement guaranteed

Flight Test Timeline

00:00:02	Liftoff
00:01:02	Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:41	Super Heavy MECO (main engines cut off)
00:02:45	Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation)
00:02:49	Super Heavy boostback burn startup
00:03:52	Super Heavy boostback burn shutdown
00:03:54	Hot-stage jettison
00:06:39	Super Heavy is transonic
00:06:43	Super Heavy landing burn startup
00:07:04	Super Heavy landing burn shutdown
00:08:23	Starship engine cutoff
00:47:25	Starship entry
01:03:11	Starship is transonic
01:04:01	Starship is subsonic
01:05:38	Landing flip
01:05:43	Landing burn
01:05:48	An exciting landing!

06 June 2024 - Launch

Timeline

Timeline according to LabPadre discord, +/- one minute:

• 00:07 Road closed
• 01:54 Pad cleared
• 04:18 Chopsticks opened to flight configuration
• 04:21 Start of SpaceX stream postponed by 20 minute, to 06:48, to align with updated launch time
• 04:41 Booster support ship Go America positioned for the flight test, approximately 80km downrange from the launch pad
• 05:07 Evacuation of Boca Chica village in progress as confirmed by Mary (Boca Chica Gal)
• 05:29 Pad clear 2; Following a return to pad, all cars and personnel appear to have left the launch site yet again
• 05:32 SpaceX livestream rescheduled to 06:40, 8 minutes earlier than originally
• 05:43 CO2 loaded into B11 for engine bay fire suppression system
• 05:44 NASA WB-57 plane has taken off from Houston to provide high altitude video surveillance
• 06:08 Timeline-Update: "Now targeting 7:50 a.m. CT for launch of Starship’s fourth flight test. Weather conditions are 95% favorable. The webcast will go live ~30 minutes ahead of liftoff"
• 06:08 Roadblock moved further inland as SpaceX cleared Starbase and surrounding areas
• 06:35 OLIT and OLM venting started for chilling propellant load lines
• 06:36 WB-57 (NASA Plane) arrived at Starbase
• 06:45 (-01:05:00) SpaceX announced that the team is go for prop load
• 06:54 (-00:56:00) Tank farm venting (CH4 and LOX subcoolers started up)
• 07:00 (-00:50:00) S29 CH4 and LOX cryo loading started, as announced by SpaceX
• 07:06 (-00:43:00) B11 CH4 and LOX cryo loading started, as announced by SpaceX
• 07:19 (-00:32:00) SpaceX went live
• 07:26 (-00:24:00) Engine chill sequence on all Raptor engines onboard S29 and B11 started
• 07:50 Lift off
• 07:53 30 Raptor engines shut down, inner 3 engines throttled down to reduce gravity losses and ullage, ignition of S29's 6 Raptor engines, S29 separation
• 07:54 B11 boost back burn shutdown and hot staging ring separation
• 07:57 B11 landed in the water of the Gulf of Mexico
• 07:59 SECO
• 08:10 Elon Musk announced that they actually have acquistion of signal on S29 with 11 internal cameras transmitting, but no external cameras.
• 08:13 Elon Musk announced that external cameras would come online in 11 minutes.
• 08:19 Elon Musk confirmed a successful soft landing of B11.
• 08:36 S29 began its reentry into the atmosphere. This is a test of the integrity of the thermal protection system and any data collection is very valuable to help SpaceX to certify the design moving forward.
• 08:55 S29 Survived reentry
• 08:56 S29 landed successfully in the Indian Ocean
• 11:53 Road open, notice from Cameron County

Stream Timeline

Stream Time - T-Time - Description

• 05:03 | none | Intro
• 06:40 | -33:24 | Start Livestream. Hosts: Kate Tice, Sr Quality Engineering Manager, Jessica Anderson, Manufacturing Engineering Manager. Introduction: Primary goal is to get through peak heating during reentry and to collect as much data as possible; long term goals and design of Starship
• 08:45 | -31:18 | Recap of IFT-3 and it's milestones (33 engines burn, hot stage separatioin, flip maneuvre, early end of boostback burn, landing burn with remaining 7 engines of which 2 reached main stage ignition, contact loss; issue was filter blockage as on flight 2, mitigations helped to get to the first landing burn attempt, more upgrades to hardware and software were added to this flight; ship 6 engine ignitions, payload door open and close, prop transfer test, attitude control loss likely due to blocked valves, those were upgraded for this flight and more valves were added for redundancy - planned relight was skipped; reentry data for the first time; RUD in 56 km altitude)
• 12:40 | -27:20 | IFT-4 test objectives and mission profile
• 15:04 | -25:00 | Update from Dan Huot, Communications, from the build site: Slip in the launch window was caused by a ground issue that had to be resolved by the red team; on track for launch at 7:50am CT; updates on stage cero helped to decreas prop load time: First two flights 90 minutes, Third flight 51 minutes, today aming for 46 minutes, ultimate goal 40 minutes; ship load started at T-50, booster load at T-43; loading expected to complete at T-3:20 for ship and T-2:50; final countdown sequence is similar to IFT-3 and IFT-4: Lift-off 4 seconds after ignition; wheather 95% go; if scrub, next attempt could be 48h later
• 15:48 | -24:16 | Loading: Booster: LOX 37%, CH4 45%; Ship: LOX 69%, CH4 68%
• 20:08 | -19:54 | Flap tests on B11
• 23:10 | -16:53 | IFT-3 recap on reentry: They have learned much about how shockwaves form on different parts of the ship and how they interact to put pressure on the ships, especially the flaps
• 23:45 | -16:12 | Missing tiles on the bottom of the ship: One thin tile and two missing tiles for testing
• 28:04 | -11:59 | Update from Dan: Everything looks good, no issues tracking; range safety team is working, not tracking any blockers currently, range green; wheather not a concern (95% good)
• 28:27 | -11:36 | Loading: Booster: LOX 73%, CH4 75%; Ship: LOX 85%, CH4 85%
• 30:03 | -10:00 | Loading: Booster: LOX 77%, CHF 79%; Ship: LOX 84%, CH4 85%
• 33:37 | -06:27 | Update from Dan: Everything looks great; at T-00:40 seconds, there's a possibility to make use of a hold for aaround 30 minutes; range green; after T-40 seconds, there's still a possibility to recycle back to T-40 seconds under certain conditions; but only to T-10 seconds, after this point a hold would be a scrub for the day as teams would need to refill the tanks for the water deflector system as well as the LOX tanks
• 33:54 | -06:10 | Loading: Booster: LOX 87%, CH4 88%; Ship: LOX 91%, CH4 92%
• 37:39 | -02:25 | "All prop load is closed out"
• 39:34 | -00:30 | "Flight director is go for launch"
• 40:02 | -00:02.67 | 13 inner engines ignition
  • 40:03 | -00:01.67 | 15 outer engines ignition in groups of 3
  • 40:04 | -00:00.84 | Remaining 5 outer engines ignition
• 40:06 | 00:01.56 | +1 km/h
• 40:06 | 00:03 | 7 km/h, one outer engine failed
• 40:15 | 00:10 | 119 km/h
• 40:20 | 00:15 | "Vehicle is pitching downrange
• 40:46 | 00:42 | "Acquisition of signal: Corpus Christi"
• 40:54 | 00:49 | "Booster and ship avionics ...."
• 41:04 | 00:59 | "Max Q"
• 41:04 | 01:00 | 1004 km/h, 7 km
• 24:13 | 01:08 | "Vehicle is upersonic" (~1169 km/h, 10km)
• 41:34 | 01:30 | 1728 km/h, 18 km
• 42:06 | 02:02 | "Booster Raptor chamber pressure nominal"
• 42:51 | 02:46.57 | 5 outer engines cut off
  • 42:51 | 02:46.76 | 3 more outer engines cut off
  • 42:51 | 02:46.91 | 4 more outer engines cut off
  • 42:52 | 02:47.16 | 2 more outer engines cut off
  • 42:52 | 02:47.36 | final 5 outer engines cut off
  • 42:52 | 02:47.6 | 5 engines on middle ring cut off
  • 42:52 | 02:47.8 | remaining 5 middle engines cut off
• 42:56 | 02:51.77 | ship 3 Rvac ignition - b 5498 km/h, s 5499 km/h; 71 km; "ship ignition"
  • 42:57 | 02:55.9 | ship center engines ignition - b 5475 km/h, s 5492 km/h; 72 km; "stage separation confirmed"
• 43:01 | 02:56.77 | booster 2 middle ring engines reignition; b 5444 km/h; s 5531 km/h
  • 43:01 | 02:56.93 | 2 more adjacent engines reignition
  • 43:02 | 02:57.16 | 2 more engines reignition; "Boostback burn startup"
  • 43:02 | 02:57.57 | 2 more engines reignition
  • 43:02 | 02:57.77 | last 2 middle ring engines reignition; b 5440 km/h; s 5548 km/h
• 43:05 | 03:00 | "Acquisition of signal: Houston"
• 43:28 | 03:23 | "Acqisiton of signal: Stennis"
• 43:31 | 03:26 | "Ship chamber pressures are nominal"
• 43:36 | 03:31 | "Ship power and telemetry nominal"
• 43:52 | 03:47.6 | 5 middle ring engines shut down
  • 43:52 | 03:47.77 | 5 remaining middle ring engines shut down
  • 44:00 | 03:55.57 | 3 center engines cut off; b 1299 km/h, 106 km; s 6913 km/h, 110 km "boostback burn shut down"
• 44:06 | 04:02 | "Stage 2 tank pressures are nominal"
• 44:14 | 04:09 | Hot stage ring jettison (visual confirmation)
• 45:08 | 05:03 | "Starship trajectory nominal"
• 46:33 | 06:28 | "Acquisition of signal: Key West?"
• 47:13 | 07:08.9 | 3 center engine reignition; b 1202 km/h, 1km
  • 47:14 | 07:09.16 | 1 middle engine reignition II
  • 47:14 | 07:09.4 | 3 middle engines reignition II
  • 47:14 | 07:09.57 | 2 middle engines reignition II
  • 47:14 | 07:09:77 | 3 middle engines reignition II; one didn't relight; 1171 km/h
• 47:20 | 07:15.97 | middle engines shut down; 213 km/h
• 47:34 | 07:29.57 | 1 center engine shut down; 14 km/h
• 47:35 | 07:31.76 | 2 remaining engines shut down; 9 km/h; soft landing
• 47:53 | 07:48 | "Ship has entered terminal guidance"
• 47:58 | 07:53 | "Expected loss of signal: Houston?"
• 48:10 | 08:05 | "Acquisition of signal: ?"
• 48:13 | 08:08.77 | 1 Rvac shut down; 24944 km/h, 147km "Ship engine cut off"
  • 48:13 | 08:08.93 | 2 Rvac shut down
• 48:41 | 08:36.7 | 3 center engines shut down; 26484 km/h, 150 km
• 48:42 | 08:37 | max v: 26498 km/h
• 48:53 | 08:48 | "Ship FTS is safed"
• 48:58 | 08:53 | "Nominal orbital insertion"
• 49:27 | 09:22 | "Expected loss of signal: Stennis"
• 52:26 | 12:23 | Loss of signal - no camera views
• 52:48 | 12:43 | "Expected loss of signal: Key West"; Blue Danube (Strauss) music - 2001 Space Odyssee reference
• 53:04 | 12:59 | "Expected loss of signal: Cape Canaveral"
• 53:59 | 13:46 | "Acquisition of signal: Puerto Rico"
• 54:17 | 14:12 | "Rvac pre valves are open"
• 56:17 | 16:12 | "Expected loss of signal: Puerto Rico"
• ~1:04:09 | 24:04 | Apogee: 26220 km/h, 213 km
• 1:16:52 | 36:48 | "Acquisition of signal: ?"
• 1:17:01 | 36:56 | Video transmission regained; 26419 km/h, 168 km
• 1:17:34 | 37:28 | "Starship is going to entry attitude"
• 1:20:20 | 40:15 | Commentary restarted
• 1:22:53 | 42:48 | "Expected loss of signal: ?"
• 1:23:41 | 43:37 | "Starship is approaching entry interface"
• 1:24:35 | 44:30 | "Acquisition of signal: ?"
• 1:25:02 | 44:58 | First plasma visible
• 1:25:50 | 45:46 | "Starship is passing through a 100 km altitude, good attitude for entry"
• 1:26:57 | 46:53 | "Temperatures increasing on the nose within expected ranges"
• 1:27:07 | 47:02 | Max Speed at 26757 km/h, 89 km
• 1:27:48 | 47:43 | "Vehicle is passing through 85 km altitude, flaps have control of the vehicle"
• 1:28:12 | 48:07 | "Starship remains on a good entry trajectory"
• 1:28:43 | 48:38 | "Expected loss of signal: Mauritius"
• 1:28:54 | 48:49 | "Starship approaching peak heating region"
• 1:29:06 | 49:02 | "Nose temperatures continue to rise within expected region"
• 1:29:47 | 49:42 | "Starship is now in epxected peak heating region"
• 1:31:13 | 51:09 | "Starship is seeing half of g acceleration, remains on a good entry trajectory"
• 1:31:29 | 51:25 | "Nose temperatures have stopped increasing"
• 1:34:06 | 54:01 | "Start of entry? chill for Raptor landing burn"
• 1:34:24 | 54:19 | "Start of Raptor chill for Starship landing burn"
• 1:35:29 | 55:25 | First major flap movement
• 1:35:34 | 55:30 | "Starship remains on a good entry trajectory"
• 1:37:29 | 57:24 | Some plasma leak at the fwd flap hinge appeared
• 1:37:53 | 57:48 | Parts of the fwd flap hinge broke off, burn through
• 1:39:29 | 59:25 | Camera lense cracked
• 1:39:58 | 59:53 | Loss of video feed, 10963 km/h, 47 km
• 1:40:05 | 1:00:00 | Video feed regained
• 1:40:33 | 1:00:29 | "Ship is approaching maximum entry dynamic pressure, external temperatures are dropping"
• 1:41:42 | 1:01:37 | Loss of video feed
• 1:41:49 | 1:01:45 | "Vehicle has passed maximum dynamic pressure"
• 1:42:27 | 1:02:23 | Video feed regained (aft cam, showing a fwd flap which can still move)
• 1:42:53 | 1:02:49 | "Starship is at 30 km altitude, mach 2"
• 1:43:40 | 1:03:35 | "Starship is at 20 km altitude"
• 1:43:52 | 1:03:47 | "Starship is subsonic"
• 1:44:30 | 1:04:25 | Flap movement visible
• 1:44:38 | 1:04: 33 | "Starship is passing through 10 km altitude" (bit late announcment)
• 1:45:11 | 1:05:06 | "Starship is passing through 5 km altitude"
• 1:45:33 | 1:05:28 | "Starship is at 2 km altitude, terminal velocity" (368 km/h)
• 1:45:42 | 1:05:37 | "Landing burn startup for starship" (not visible on graphic); followed by rapid flap movement
• 1:45:54 | 1:05:49 | "Nominal chamber pressure for starship"
• 1:45:55 1:05:50 | "Landing burn startup"
• 1:46:02 | 01:55:57 | Splash down - 2 km/h velocity
• 1:46:04 | 01:06:00 | "Starship is in ??"; Ship tipping over as of the increased velocity mesurement and the orientation graphic
• 1:46:07 | 01:06:03 | "Landing burn shut down"
• 1:46:13 | 01:06:08 | "The landing burn shut down was commanded"
• 1:46:14 | 01:06:09 | Loss of signal
• 1:46:42 | 01:06:38 | Confirmation: "Landing burn shut down"
• 1:49:19 | 01:09:15 | End of commentated stream
• 1:51:15 | End of Video

Telemetry

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Timeline of Announcements and Updates

06 June 2024

Launch of Booster 11 and Ship 29.

SpaceX: "If Starship manages to make it all the way to reentry, we'll collect valuable data on the vehicle at hypersonic speeds, or more than 5x the speed of sound"

SpaceX: "We intentionally placed one thin heatshield tile and removed two tiles completely from the Ship to measure how hot things get without tiles in those locations, while also testing some thermal protection options"

SpaceX: "The payload for these flight tests is data. Building upon what we achieved during Starship’s third flight test, our primary goal today is to get through the extreme heat of reentry"

SpaceX: "Starship will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight test, with a targeted splashdown of the Ship in the Indian Ocean" [including a profile video]

SpaceX: "Now targeting 7:50 a.m. CT for launch of Starship’s fourth flight test. Weather conditions are 95% favorable. The webcast will go live ~30 minutes ahead of liftoff"

05 June 2024

SpaceX: "Starship stacked for Flight 4 The two-hour launch window opens tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. CT"

Elon Musk: Asked, what the missing heat shield tiles on S29 are for, Elon Musk answered "experiments".

Elon Musk: Launch delayed to 7:20 am: "Launch tmrw morning at 7:20 Texas time"

04 June 2024

SpaceX: "Targeting Thursday, June 6 for Starship’s fourth flight test. A 120-minute launch window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT"

FAA: Flight added to ATC advisory.

FAA: The launch license was issued: "Space Explorations Technologies s authorized, subject to the provisions of 51 U.S.C. Subtitle V, chapter 509, and the orders, rules, and regulations issued under it, to conduct launches of the Starship-Super Heavy vehicle." It was the third revision of the license, the revisions fo this launch revisions are:

• Changed paragraph 4(b)(i) from “Using the Starship-Super Heavy vehicle.” to “Using a Ship 29-Booster 11 Starship-Super Heavy vehicle configuration, unless this license is modified to remove this term.”
• Removed “, excluding Starship entry contingency landing locations” from paragraph 4(b)(iii).
• Changed paragraph 4(b)(iv) from “For the Flight 3 mission only, unless this license is modified to remove this term.” to “For the mission profile represented for Flight 4.”

The FAA also issued following statement:

The FAA is responsible for and committed to protecting the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations.

The FAA has approved a license authorization for SpaceX Starship Flight 4. SpaceX met all safety and other licensing requirements for this test flight. The modified license can be found here.

As part of its request for license modification, SpaceX proposed three scenarios involving the Starship entry that would not require an investigation in the event of the loss of the vehicle. The FAA approved the scenarios as test induced damage exceptions after evaluating them as part of the flight safety and flight hazard analyses and confirming they met public safety requirements. If a different anomaly occurs with the Starship vehicle an investigation may be warranted as well as if an anomaly occurs with the Super Heavy booster rocket.

Background

The Test Induced Damage Exception identifies test objectives associated with certain flight events and system components of the Starship vehicle. The three approved exceptions include: failure of the thermal shield during high-heating; the flap system is unable to provide sufficient control under high dynamic pressure; and the failure of the Raptor engine system during the landing burn. If one of these scenarios occurs, an investigation will not be required provided there was no serious injury or fatality, no damage to unrelated property and no debris outside designated hazard areas.

In addition, the FAA approved the mission profile that included a controlled and uncontrolled entry of the Starship vehicle. If SpaceX chooses to execute an uncontrolled entry, it must communicate that decision to the FAA prior to launch. As such, the loss of the Starship vehicle would be considered a planned event and an investigation will not be required.

New TFR's (Temporary Flight Restrictions) have been posted for flight test 4: Sufrace to unlimited, primary for 06 June, backups for 07 and 08 June. Also, a NOTMAR posted for the Gulf of Mexico for 06 June.

03 June 2024

Elon Musk: "Starship is ready to fly" [with pictures]

Christian Davenport: "Barring any last-minute changes from SpaceX that the FAA would have to approve, the license should be ready for Starship's fourth launch attempt on Thursday, I'm told."

01 June 2024

SpaceX: "Flight 4 of Starship is now targeted to launch as early as June 6, pending regulatory approval"

New MSIB issued for 06 June.

Elon Musk: "Starship Flight 4, with many improvements, aiming to launch on Thursday! The main goal of this mission is to get much deeper into the atmosphere during reentry, ideally through max heating."

31 May 2024

GO America is en route to Brownsville to suppoert booster splashdown zone operations (Gav Cornwell)

LR11000X (Maarvin) laid down

New MSIB/NOTMAR for 05 and 06 June 2024 from 7-11am (Visit BocaChica)

30 May 2024

SpaceX started installing the FTS on both Ship and Booster.

LR11000X left orbital tank farm area, final tanks will likely not be removed ahead of IFT-4

28 May 2024

Adrian Beil contacted the FAA for a statement on the status of flight test 3: "After a comprehensive review, the FAA determined no public safety issues were involved in the anomaly that occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-3 launch on March 14. This public safety determination means the Starship vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation remains open, provided all other license requirements are met. SpaceX has not yet received FAA license authorization for the next Starship launch. The FAA notified SpaceX on May 24 of the positive public safety determination." This allows SapceX to move forward with the License Modification required for Flight 4 and to file a flight plan on the license. This does not close the mishap investigation and possible resulting mitigations from Flight 3 which is still ongoing.

2nd Wet Dress Rehearsal of Starship 11/29. SpaceX: "Starship and Super Heavy loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant in a rehearsal ahead of Flight 4. Launch is targeted as early as June 5, pending regulatory approval"

26 May 2024

The booster stabilization pins have been removed from OLM, indicating SpaceX is not planning on removing Booster 11 anymore before IFT-4.

Elon Musk: "Flight 4 in about 10 days"

24 May 2024

SpaceX: "The fourth flight test of Starship could launch as soon as June 5, pending regulatory approval".

Elon Musk: "Flight 4 in about 10 days".

23 May 2024

On May 23, a NOTAM for the Indian Ocean was released for the splashdown area of the Ship. This NOTAM starts on June 1.

Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Committee Admin. Nelson references the forthcoming SpaceX Starship IFT-4 launch and its role in the path to Artemis III. (Will Robinson-Smith)

22 May 2024

On May 22, a NOTMAR was posted for June 1 between 07:00 and 11:00 local time with backup dates.

21 May 2024

NASA's HLS manager Lisa Watson-Morgan: "For Flight 4, it's mostly going to be a repeat of Flight 3 without the propellant transfer, without the Pez door open, without the other items that SpaceX was working to demonstrate." "SpaceX is not planning to attempt a Raptor engine restart on the next Starship test flight. Eventually, SpaceX must demonstrate this capability for future Starships to drop out of orbit and return to Earth." This means Starship cannot go orbital until Flight 6 at the earliest. (Ars Technica)

On May 21, road closures were scheduled for the June 1, 2 and 3 for Flight Activities (12am-2pm).

20 May 2024

WB57 flight placeholder scheduled for June 1st, marking a possible date for IFT-4 (Oliver The Space Nerd)

Elon Musk: "Starship Flight 4 in about 2 weeks. Primary goal is getting through max reentry heating. Worth noting that no one has ever succeeded in creating a fully reusable heat shield. Shuttle required >6 months of rework."

17 May 2024

On May 17, the FAA made a statement that if the FAA agrees no public safety issues were involved in the mishap, SpaceX may return to flight while the IFT-3 investigation remains open, provided all other license requirements are met.

14 May 2024

License Timing: Expected in the last week of May, coinciding with Memorial Day (May 27th), or possibly in early June. SpaceX aims to commence the flight immediately upon obtaining the license.

26 April 2024

Eric Berger: "According to NASA's Amit Kshatriya, SpaceX is working toward the fourth Starship flight test before the end of May. Says IFT3 was "a great success.""

10 April 2024

Kelvin Coleman (FAA/AST): Next launch has to both clear the mishap investigation and get a license modification because they are planning to do "some different things". It could be done by May, but this is not a commitment from the FAA.

06 April 2024

At a Starship Update, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX plans to do a virtual booster tower catch during soft splashdown on flight test 4. If this goes well, they would try a real catch attempt on flight test 5.

04 April 2024

Elon Musk: "Flight 4 next month".

27 March 2024

After a successful static fire of S29, Elon Musk revealed the mission objective for Flight Test 4. SpaceX is looking to get through re-entry with all systems working. Elon Musk on X: "Getting ready for Flight 4 of Starship! Goal of this mission is for Starship to get through max reentry heating with all systems functioning."

19 March 2024

During a panel at the Satellite conference, Gwynne Shotwell mentioned that SpaceX is expected to be prepared for another Starship flight in approximately six weeks. She stated that the teams are currently in the process of reviewing the data from the previous flight and clarified that the upcoming flight would not carry any satellites. She added that, nevertheless, the goal for Starship this year is to reach orbit, deploy satellites and recover both stages.

Gallery

Liftoff as seen from OLIT. c SpaceX

Liftoff as seen from OLIT. c SpaceX

Super Heavy Booster Landing in The Gulf Of Mexico