The amazing first (and last) flight of Starship Serial Number 8!! Reaction and analysis.

Wherein Dr. Know-it-all reacts in real time to SpaceX’s Starship SN 8’s maiden—and final—flight, and does a quick analysis of the launch, hover, and attempted landing. Watch for some serious geeking out over the first step in a future that just a few minutes ago seemed like science fiction!

Main video credit is, of course, SpaceX. Awesome video, guys!

[DrKnowitallKnows]

Thank you all so much for watching! Next time I'm going to try to get the whole live stream thing working so you can see it more or less in real time :)
And, since the video recording, updates: 1, the rocket was either burning TTEB trying to relight the engines at the end, or there was not enough oxygen pressure, causing the methane to burn green rather than clear - this from Elon, who tweeted that header tank pressure was too low at the end. 2, I am guessing at the top of the flight, when starship was hovering, it was dumping fuel to lighten itself up before falling (the white "smoke" coming off the bottom of the rocket just before the last raptor shut down). and 3, I believe now that the 2 raptor cut-outs were on purpose: they reduced thrust so the ship could hover at apogee. You notice that 2 came back on for the landing maneuver, which indicates they were indeed functioning.

[allcouto]

Ellon said the chances to get everything all right were only 30%
In my opinion they did amazingly good!

[bachmeier]

Hiya, the two raptor engines were shut off intentionally to optimize thrust-to-weight ratio as propellant was consumed. Starship continued to rise until the last raptor shut off! (Source: I’m currently a spacex engineer.)

[Cydonius]

When rockets turn men into little kids opening their Christmas presents .. loved the excitement !

[sylviebergeron]

Listening to Dr Know it All instead of CNN or MSNBC news. Good Job Doctor.

[tonyvelasco]

The engine reduction as they neared apogee was planned, and going out over the ocean has been part of the flight profile all along, as it falls, it comes back towards the landing pad. Only part that was abnormal was the landing, where not enough fuel got to the engines, so they cut out near the end.

[yahikotendo]

I watched this with my dad, and it was the craziest thing I've ever seen! Almost looked like CGI, it was so out of this world! (Almost literally)

[charlesrovira]

How many times did it take *SpaceX* to get the procedure 100% right with the *Falcon 9* and *Falcon Heavy?* Now it's *_expected!_*
It wasn't *during* the flight as everything has been _nominal._ The individual engine flameouts and relight had been going fine, as had the attitude control tests for pitch, yaw, and roll. They didn't *stick the landing* and *_that's when_* the rocket experienced a RUD. (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. ) This test was a *_glowing success._*

[khaccanhle]

I would say this was a success if it only got 2, 000 feet up.
The fact that it ascended - hovered - flipped horizontal - skydived - flipped vertical - and tried to relight, to me is phenomenal!
The world saw this, no one wants to be left behind, Space Race 2.0 is here. On to Mars!

[tonyvelasco]

At the end, the engines were fuel starved, is all, so that is why it cratered then.

[astroluke]

You, by far, had one of the best reactions to this flight. That was great!

[johngmcd]

Watching you was almost as much fun as watching Starship. I have now watched it 3 times.
Great to see your reactions, you and more than 1/2 other watched it as well. I remember the first moon landing and the first steps on the moon. This comes in second to that I think.

[justinmo]

There’s something so fun about watching an explosion.... and watching someone else watch it is just as fun! 😄
So close to a perfect landing!

[pwells]

What a fabulous vid! Love your energy and enthusiasm. I've watched this epic test so many times already with your's being the most fun. Thanks Dr Kia

[lanielane]

My favorite of your videos yet bae. So glad you are letting everyone see just how much you geek out over this stuff. 😘

[ianhaines]

The individual engine shutdowns on accent were intentional and the engine flameouts during the landing burn were due to low methane header tank pressure (the engines were running oxygen rich, oxidizing engine components).

Amazing flight SpaceX!

[WyoSavage]

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

[mramk]

not a raptor issue. Elon tweeted that header tank issue. low pressure starving raptors of fuel. probably oxygen because the flame turned green (high methane)

[matthewsuggs]

Just to let you know, wel you should know it all, I'm a total blind person watching you, with no screen. just sound.

[petersolymosi]

After replay maybe 20 times the whole flight, I'm nearly convinced, that we did NOT lose the first and then the second engine, it was intended to collect data what happens in the skirt section when shutting down an engine, and test the control mechanisms with only two or one engine. It was very successful. I'm also nearly sure, that it was intended to land with only two engines, the two which we have "lost" before. The velocity when reaching ground was too high, ok, but that was because of some mixture problem which led to cutback of propulsion. This was the only real flaw on this test. The flames in the skirt come from drops of unburned fuel being in the engine while shutting down, I'm sure, this can be solved easily.