Gently does it! Starship SN15’s test flight

It landed, gently, and remained upright. Complete success at last. SN15 nailed it.

Starship SN15 on the suborbital launch pad, next to a nosecone test rig, before the flight Credit: SpaceX

Just nine days after SN11’s dramatic demise, SN15 - which, if you don’t already know, stands for Serial Number 15 - was moved a mile and a half down the road from where it was built to the launch site at Boca Chica, Texas.

This rollout is a sight to see. The imposing 50m or 164ft tall, fully-stacked stainless steel rocket is transported upright on a great multi-wheeled contraption, aptly manufactured by Roll-lift - “driven” by a man walking behind with a remote controller.

SN15 is the first of a next generation of prototypes, with Elon Musk tweeting it “has hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software, and engine”. He later added that the small methane leak that had caused SN11’s problem was getting fixed “6 ways to Sunday”, which is an American expression meaning “in every possible way”. This speedy error-focused learning is inspiring and demonstrates why SpaceX are way ahead of everyone else.

After being lifted by a giant crane onto its suborbital launch pad, SN15 underwent the usual series of pre-flight tests. Finally ready to fly, poor weather then caused a couple of delays.

Raptor engines ignited, SN15 launches Credit: SpaceX

Like hundreds of thousands of other people all over the world, I was glued to my screen for takeoff at just before 11.30pm (UTC+1) on Wednesday 5th May 2021. The official SpaceX live feed for a launch is usually enthralling, but SN15 quickly disappeared into low cloud. Intermittent views came through from onboard cameras over the next few minutes of flight, but unfortunately it wasn’t great. Even the experienced John Insprucker struggled with his commentary. Moments before landing, a SpaceX drone captured SN15 reappearing through the clouds and, at this point, I’ll leave it to John in this edited video clip (below) to talk through what happened next.

With the memory still fresh in our minds of SN10 exploding eight minutes after its hard landing, we were all willing the fire at the base of SN15 to be extinguished. After what seemed like an eternity, the flames went out - just as Elon posted a tweet: “Starship landing nominal!”

Written by Cal Stewart, 6th May, 2021