There is no reason for humans to fly, but here we are...

Let's build that moon colony so it's easier to send humans to the moon.

My speculation is FAA issues launch license 10 seconds before launch so no time for the
ULA, Blueorigin and Roscomos sponsored environmental groups can stop it.
Me cynical, no.....

Given that I've been working hard on getting a stabilized telephoto 4K video camera working on the breezy and I'm planning on flying to brownsville to watch/film the launch.
Its going to be spectacular one way or another...

As for why have manned space exploration?
Because there is a solar system full of resources out there and we should not be doing dirty industrial processes in our biosphere.

As for mars?
We don't know if humans can thrive in any gravity other than earth.

Three cases:
Humans need more than mars gravity to thrive...
Then all human space settlement will be spun rotating space stations and mars is meaningless long term.


Humans can thrive in mars gravity:
Mars has lots of untapped resources and a much smaller gravity well than earth.
The people that settle mars will be the richest humans as they have the entire solar system at their disposal for delta V costs 1/4 or less than earth.
(and delta V is logarithmic, ie 1/4 delta v is 16th as hard)

Humans can thrive in zero G. (some evidence this is not true...)
again mars is meaningless long term. Maybe mars has some resources (Co2, water)
not at all clear that asteroid versions of these resources might be more access able.

You could have asked the same exact question of the Europeans that settled in North America... nothing there why go?

My only comment is on the photography. I put a lot of effort into taking pictures of the Artimis launch a few months ago. The came out pretty well. But... I really should have spent my time looking, not photographing. There are lots of great launch pictures out there - but you don't often get to see one in person

I wish that I could be there but the kids are back in school.

Thankfully their video stream is excellent (historically) and hopefully has start to finish coverage.

Also, hopefully the start and finish don’t occur simultaneously

When it eventually goes it's guaranteed to be exciting

Right now it looks like wet dress rehearsal will be this coming week (April 10-12). After that it depends on when/if the FAA issues them a license to fly it. They seem to have booked the 17th and the next couple of days thereafter for that. We'll see if anything happens.

[Heavy Breathing]
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission ... light-test

It isn't looking like they will flip the ship, but instead just belly flop it.
Boooo.

Looks like we have as much as a confirmation as we're going to get about the 17th.

They have published the TFR. Closest point is 2nm to launch pad. Currently on my way to watch in the breezy. Spent last night in Chandler, hope to make kpeq...tonight....

This is a big deal: one small step for Space X, one giant leap for mankind kind of deal if you ask me.

Eric Berger reporting that SpaceX received the launch license at 17:50. Monday will be interesting one way or another!

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04 ... -starship/

I will be staying in Harlingen …

I'm driving down Sunday and staying on SPI.

Something doesn't make sense to me.

The TFR is from 1200 to 1500 Z (0700 to 1000 CT). Sunrise is 1203 Z at the launch site, so likely after sunrise for liftoff.

But the plan is to fly a "nearly" orbital trajectory, about 80% around the Earth, which should take about 70-75 minutes or so, and drop into the ocean near Kauai, HI. The sunrise in Kauai will be at 1615 Z.

This means that if they launch at the latest possible time, 1430 Z from what I read, they will be "landing" before sunrise. It almost sounds as if they worked out the time to have a sunlight takeoff and a night time landing.

Why launch when you can't really see how well it is doing on reentry and landing? That seems odd to me since the reentry and landing of the Starship part is the actual tricky bit, IMO.

So why would they do this in the dark?

BTW, there is no matching TFR near Kauai. What keeps the landing airspace clear?

Mike C.

From the breezy just outside the TFR with cell camera.