updates
Starship Flight 3 reaches space and loses both vehicles
On May 24, 2024, SpaceX said the March 14 Flight 3 test completed the ship's ascent burn, then lost the booster on the landing burn and the ship during reentry.
Topics: space-civilization starship
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
Flight 3 lifted off at 8:25 a.m. CT on March 14, 2024. All 33 booster engines finished a full-duration burn, hot-staging worked, and the ship became the first Starship to finish its full ascent burn. Boostback commanded 13 engines. All 13 ran until six shut down early, which SpaceX called a benign early end to the burn. The likely cause was continued filter blockage in the liquid-oxygen supply, the same family of problem named after Flight 2, only partly mitigated. Landing burn could command just seven of those engines; two reached mainstage. Contact was lost around 462 meters over the Gulf, just under seven minutes into the flight. Later boosters were to get more hardware inside the oxygen tanks.
The ship flew until an unplanned roll. Telemetry ended near 65 kilometers, about 49 minutes after liftoff. SpaceX’s likely cause is clogged valves in the roll-control system. Later ships would add roll thrusters and harder-to-block hardware. Neither vehicle’s automatic flight-safety system fired, and SpaceX said no debris fell outside planned hazard areas. The investigation was led by SpaceX with FAA oversight and NASA and NTSB participation. SpaceX noted that a license modification could follow an FAA finding of no public-safety impact without formally closing the mishap. Upgrades for Flight 4 included dropping the hot-stage adapter after boostback to lighten the booster. The post marks a shift in goals from reaching space to returning and reusing both stages.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| Liftoff March 14, 2024, 8:25 a.m. CT | Company flight report |
| First Starship to finish its ascent burn | Company flight result |
| Booster contact lost near 462 m; ship telemetry lost near 65 km at about 49 minutes | Company flight result |
| Oxygen-filter blockage and clogged roll valves named as likely causes | Company investigation findings |
Why it matters
Flight 3 is the test that put a Starship on a near-orbital energy path and still ended with both vehicles lost. The reuse objective stated at the end is what Flights 7 and 8 later report as catches. Filter blockage is the thread back to the Flight 2 booster failure.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, May 24, 2024 — Grade A, company flight report
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