Talk:SpaceX Starship flight tests/Archive 1

MK1 flight
Although the MK1 to fly later this year is called "orbital prototype", I understand it will not reach orbit, but will target only 20 km altitude. So if you insist this will be an orbital flight, please source it, don't just delete the tag. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 17:11, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The list is missing the MK2. Rowan Forest (talk) 17:23, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I don't understand what you are questioning. The fact that SpaceX plans to reach orbit at all? The 20 km flight and the future orbital flight are obviously separate flights. Anyway, added a tweet confirming that, indeed, one of the Starships is supposed to make an orbital flight. --mfb (talk) 23:15, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I am questioning your wisdom in removing the "citation needed" template on the false statement the very first flight would be launched to orbit. It will not. I fixed it and added that the first MK1 flight will reach only 20 km altitude. Yet you are still arguing. Relax, I fixed it, whether you understand it or not. Never mind, I noticed the MK flights are listed on the table above. CHeers,   Rowan Forest (talk) 23:36, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

The "BFR" has had no flights to date, and none are planned for many months
The "BFR"—the two-stage-to-orbit stack of two vehicles, one Super Heavy booster vehicle plus one Starship second stage vehicle—has had no flights to date, and none are planned for many many months. As a result, this "List of ..." article should probably not even exist yet.

The only thing flying so far, and planned in the next few months, are early test flights of early prototype vehicles of just the second stage rocket, the Starship. Moreover, there is already a well-sourced List of test flights of the prototypes in the Starship article. See here. This article is both redundant, and incorrectly titled since BFR is not flying yet. Cheers. N2e (talk) 20:02, 29 August 2019 (UTC)


 * While orbital, lunar and interplanetary flights will be notable, Starship's career is meant to be financed by performing "routine" commercial intercontinental flights. I don't think that such flights would be notable for mention. Excluding them, there is indeed duplication with the existing list at the parent article. Furthermore, technically, even Musk says that Starship may never fly as proposed, because of the enormous technical challenges (extremely lax radiation protection included) so yes, there is an argument for "crystal ball".  Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 20:50, 29 August 2019 (UTC)


 * With your argument, the list of Space Launch System launches should also be deleted, because the launch vehicle is yet to be operational. The flights of Starhopper and the future flights of Starship are worth noting. The Artemis program also has technical challenges, and the missions may never fly as proposed. —Yours sincerely, Soumyabrata (talk • subpages) 04:39, 30 August 2019 (UTC)


 * You said, "The flights of Starhopper and the future flights of Starship are worth noting" Agreed.  They are already noted, in an extensive table, in the Testing section of the Starship article.  You name THIS article a list of "BFR" flights.  It has had none to date, and there is no date announced for the first one.  No need to repeat all the Starship test flights in a second article.  N2e (talk) 04:59, 30 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, in terms of using "BFR" in the name, we really have to think about renamingBFR (rocket). But to be honest, I think we should wait until the September 28th presentation by SpaceX. OkayKenji (talk page) 20:39, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

Requested move 29 September 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Move Rowan Forest (talk) 15:14, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

List of BFR flights → List of Starship flights – "BFR" isn't a thing any more. We can list all Starship flights here, with or without Super Heavy. Starhopper as smaller prototype can be listed as well. --mfb (talk) 21:22, 29 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Support, the upper stage is called Starship. Rowan Forest (talk) 22:37, 29 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Speedily move per nom. --Soumyabrata (talk • subpages) 12:18, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Having monitored the related Spaceship articles, this is a non-controversial move, so I will go ahead with the move. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 14:58, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Potential re-formatting to do in the next 2 years
The List of Space Shuttle missions has the ALT in a different section called test flights. I think once we have a few full-stack orbital flights, the Starhopper and Prototype test flights should be listed differently. This isn't essential that it is done immediately but we can start making preparations by splitting it into research flights and planned orbital flights. - AndrewRG10 (talk) 23:30, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Question marks ???
I found on the "Planned" section that the question marks are used to emphasis the statement that the vehicle mentioned on the mission may or not be used. This is the convention that goes against the style guide of English Wikipedia. --Soumya-8974 talk contribs subpages 04:41, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Flight statistics: Proposed flights
I suggest removing all of them. SpaceX wants to do most of their flights with Starship once it is running. That we have one specific proposal for 2023 is irrelevant and in no way reflecting the activity SpaceX expects for 2023. --mfb (talk) 03:15, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Suborbital test chart
I have an idea for a suborbital test height chart but I'm still not happy with it:

If you want to add a changed version to the article, do that. --HLFan (talk) 21:48, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Too few entries to make that interesting I think, and too much other relevant development that the height doesn't catch. --mfb (talk) 06:27, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

SN8 outcome
This was previously discussed in the SpaceX Starship talk page

Currently on Wikipedia for spaceflight and rocketry related lists, this is described as a failure because it was a destruction of the launch vehicle during the primary mission. This is why Falcon 9 landing failures aren't classified as failures because landing is a secondary objective or why 2nd stage fragmentation in orbit aren't classified as launch failures, because they occurred after completing the primary objective. Launches like Astra's Rocket 3 are classified as failures as the vehicle was destroyed during the primary mission, even though it was a high risk R&D flight. Since the landing of SN8 was a necessary part of the flight and was not a secondary objective, this test is labeled as a failure. (partial failures are missions where an anomaly in the primary mission occurs, but is still able to meet all objectives (like Atlas V L-no.10), so SN8 doesn't qualify). --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 01:53, 10 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Each of these early pre-operational tests is a complex test—one with many test objectives—of a prototype test article that is far from the final/operational vehicle, and what's more, very much unlike every other test article. It is a fools errand to try to reduce such complex tests of widely differing vehicles to a single "Success" or "Failure" based on whether the test article landed in one piece.  That is simply not how development engineering is done; even though it is something the human mind would like to have.  I don't really think Wikipedia ought to be doing this in our article space.  N2e (talk) 21:23, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Instead of "all test objectives achieved" etc, I've left them as successful/mostly successful, but with the test objectives way listed in notes. They mean mostly similar things, and this way it will be significantly less wordy, which is important in a table like this. N828335 (talk) 04:23, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

SN 9 vs. 10
For information only because this isn't coming from a strong reference: SN10 is missing a forward fin, presumably taken to give it SN9. This strongly suggests SN9 will be finished first. We can update the list once we have a clear source. --mfb (talk) 02:37, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

Pre launch activities
I think that the description in this template about pre launch activities, such as static fires, is excessive. We should remove all but a short summary, and place this info in the Starship development history article. This template is meant to be for the actual flights. N828335 (talk) 01:08, 29 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Concur, the template should be a much tighter summary of the test flights, and not a more detailed play-by-play of each test articles story and life history. N2e (talk) 12:05, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

Removal of current Flight No. 1
I think that the first flight listed in the table should no longer be included on this list. It was essentially a static fire, that went up a tiny distance tethered. In no way should this be listed as a "suborbital flight." It in no way compares to any of the other flights listed in the table. N828335 (talk) 06:57, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I am undecided on this. I think it could go both ways.  It wasn't exactly flying and it wasn't exactly a static fire. It wasn't bolted down and it did move.  Right now I lean toward leaving it because it is an important event associated with Starship flights and it feels like the table would be incomplete without some mention of it.  Maybe an asterisk and a footnote?  I'd like to hear another opinion.  I'm not firm on this.  JaredHWood💬 15:04, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Should stay. It already says it is ~1 meter and also says "Tethered hop which hit tethered limits". First test should be included. If anything should change, I think it is the title that perhaps would be better as 'Starship test flights' i.e. leave out mention of suborbital which possibly implies quite a bit of unpowered ballistic travel. I am thinking will be better to have a new tables for 'Super-heavy booster test flights' and 'test flights of both Super-heavy booster and Starship' rather than splitting based on suborbital or orbital. crandles (talk) 15:59, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

SN9 engines
Per Flickr and the webcast it looks like the SN of the engines were 45 and 49. (right now it says we need a citation) OkayKenji (talk • contribs) 01:55, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I've since removed the cn tag. It says the Flickr photo was from 21 Jan 2021, was this after they swapped the engines? I don't remember. N828335 (talk) 02:26, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Lol. Missed that, thanks! Er, looks like the swap might be before the 18th per NASASpaceflight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSRrj2K8tAk, but I don't remember if they did another swap? OkayKenji (talk • contribs) 02:36, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I think Elon said in a tweet that they only swapped 2, so yes, SN45 and SN49 were part of the flight. I'll add it. N828335 (talk) 02:39, 4 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Seriously, folks. Unless we have a clear reliable source that the engines were x, y and z as of the day of the test, we have no business doing synthesis of material from sources, and drawing conclusions about which engines were in the test.  It is okay if Wikipedia does not explicate all possibly known facts.  It is especially okay if such detail, not clearly supported by RS, is NOT present in a table that should be, after all, a mere summary of details explicated in the article prose.  N2e (talk) 16:27, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

On separating outcome into launch and landing.
Regarding changes by :

At the moment, I don't think this would be necessary. Falcon 9/Heavy mission success does not include the landing, so it is fit to include a separate landing column. However, these tests include landing as a criteria for mission success. This is for the same reason the Space Shuttle only has one outcome, because landing is an essential part of the mission. Besides, what defines launch success? Clears the pad? Reaches apogee? N828335 (talk) 18:22, 25 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Concur with N828335. All of these prototype flights are merely proprietary multi-element test sequences of test articles that typically have quite a number of new aspects to be tested during each multi-hour test.  The company, like all companies and government agencies really, chooses to keep most of the test objectives of each test sequence and flight test proprietary, and holds the information internally.  It is a poor sort of wiki synthesis for (obviously quite interested) editors to turn these tests into a handicapped sports event during the explication of each test in Wikipedia, where only the test objectives that we see or are most obvious are counted.  N2e (talk) 12:03, 2 February 2021 (UTC)


 * I'd be in favor of a separate column. It delineates between reaching apogee and being able to land. This is how List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches does it as well as List of Electron launches. Just have the separation be reaching apogee. If it reaches apogee, but fails to land, it's a successful launch, but a failed landing.


 * That makes sense when there are 2 separate stages and a defined mission (put something into orbit), but until the full starship stack, I don't think it is necessary. It would be best just to add a note after each "Destroyed" outcome stating exactly what went wrong. Also note that List of starship flights makes this distinction in the statistics section. However, once it goes orbital, it might be reasonable to have 3: Superheavy landing, payload deployment (mission outcome), and Starship landing. N828335 (talk) 22:05, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Suborbital test flights Heading
I think we should avoid suborbital description where we can as it could be seen as implying considerable ballistic trajectory which isn't really true for first five test hops up to 500 feet and perhaps somewhat dubious for aerodynamically controlled belly flop flights. It also seems possible even likely we will have super heavy booster test flights before Starship atmospheric test flights are complete. Therefore seems better to split into tables for 'Starship test flights', 'Super-Heavy test flights' and 'Combined test flights' than having 'Suborbital test flights' and 'Orbital test flights'. So far flights are clearly test flights; while it could become harder to distinguish test flights from operational flights we can addreess that if / when that issue arises. For the moment my proposal just means changing 'Suborbital test flights' heading to 'Starship test flights'. crandles (talk) 20:52, 13 February 2021 (UTC)


 * I agree "suborbital" isn't the necessarily the right word for the current test flights. However, I still think proper orbital flights should be in a category of their own, regardless of if it is a SpaceX test flight or a customer payload. Besides, it is very likely that SpaceX chooses to put some sort of payload onto their first orbital mission, which would not work well on the current table. Not sure what the best categorization will be, we will have to wait and see exactly what they do. As for now, renaming the heading "Starship test flights" and adding a short description about the table might work well for now. N828335 (talk) 00:49, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
 * No SH solo flight will reach orbit. It's very likely no Starship flight will be orbital, and it is likely that all SH+Starship flights will be orbital. That means we can use these categories and still keep the orbital/not orbital separation (unless SpaceX surprises us). --mfb (talk) 19:29, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Reputability of www.spacelaunchschedule.com for Starship
Recently, used www.spacelaunchschedule.com as a citation for the SN10 NET date. However, I have several issues with this source: I have since replaced this with the other reputable sources mentioned, and unless good evidence can be found to the credibility of this site, it should probably be avoided. N828335 (talk) 17:28, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) In giving 7 March was a NET date, it contradicts with many other reputable sources, such as Everyday Astronaut, Next Spaceflight, and a tweet from Elon Musk himself
 * 2) They typically would not have a flight on a weekend.
 * 3) I can't find much information on where this data is coming from.
 * 4) As with the date, I can't find any sources that can confirm the supposed 10 km altitude, only that it will be similar to SN8/9. Likely speculation on their end.
 * 5) The time of launch is so speculative it probably should be left out here. Besides, 9:00 is only when the window could open, it would almost certainly take a few hours before they are ready to fly.
 * Looks like they have changed their date to the 28th. Regardless, this still contradicts with other sources, as TFRs are even in place for 23-25 Feb. This site seems more for speculation than for fact-based launch dates. N828335 (talk) 18:24, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

Responding to, who reinstated the source without discussing here, states:"It says it will fly on February 28. Also, it is very reputable and is used in List of Vega launches and more as a reference" To recap above, this directly contradicts with Elon Musk himself, and has no validation of accuracy, unlike other sources used. The fact that it appears in a different article means nothing, it probably should not be used there either. Also note this discussion is only about Starship dates on the site, not other rockets. Not to mention 75% of the edits to this article are from the same IP address. Please do not reinstate reverted edits with a talk section created for it without discussing there first. N828335 (talk) 16:08, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

Multiple columns for outcome
About 18 months ago the overwhelimg response from editors after the Arabsat6A recovery failure was that the landing is a success if it lands and does 't fall over immediately. SN10 fits those categories and as a result in order to be in line with what SpaceX also called a successful landing, and to also maintain consistency I would highly suggest sticking to calling it a successful landing -AndrewRG10 (talk) 23:50, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * They called a success before it blew up. It didn't necessarily land successfully, it just didn't fail on landing. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 23:52, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Also, in the talk page above us, we already sort of figured this out.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 23:53, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I'll give a proposal for a more thorough review that doesn't rely on impossible-to-quantify subjective definitions of "success" - why don't we just have three different boxes to indicate "successful launch" (rocket didn't blow up going up) "successful landing" (rocket didn't blow up going down) and "successful recovery" (rocket didn't blow up on the ground) All of those are quite devoid of any grey area so regardless of what shenanigans take place in any future launches, each step should have a clear YES or NO. exoplanetaryscience (talk) 00:03, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I'm in favor for that & I've argued for it before. It would eliminate the headache here after each test.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:11, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I partially like the idea but it just does not fit. I partially like the idea of separating the launch and landing but it doesn't work all that well with SN5 and SN6 where the definition of when launch ends and landing starts is merged. I think a recovery tab is just not worth it because none of these test vehicles have really intended to be reflown. And in 3 years time there will be so few failed recoveries after successful landings. I like the idea of sticking to what we did on the Falcon 9 page and just add a note to clearly state what happened afterwards. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 00:13, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * How about apogee?--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:15, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I do not like the multiple outcome approach, makes the table too big. It was also discussed previously on this talk page. However, on the graphs on this article may benefit from this distinction.N828335 (talk) 00:18, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Both F9/H and Electron's launch lists have two columns & it doesn't oversize it.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:21, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I am gonna backtrack a little on what I said, I fully support splitting launch and landing that being the single-engine hops were all successes so there is no conflict on when they failed. However, I don't like the idea of adding recovery, because to be fair recovery isn't a major part of the program yet. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 00:22, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Thats fair.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:23, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Too many columns seems a bad idea. Just thought I would throw in a different option for two columns: One for 'Apparent test progress' and one for 'Landing'. So all have shown progress except SN9. SN8 went to high altitude, did belly flop etc. SN9 didn't do any more. SN10 controlled decent speed and hard landed rather than impacted ground. crandles (talk) 18:47, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Not a bad idea. Just a small column with "Novel test activities" and "Yes"/"No". However, this can be subjective as SN9 technically had some new, yet minor activities, like more heat shielding. I don't see how launch/landing would be any better than we already have, because it basically describes launch/landing. Launching is a prerequisite to landing. This is not the case with Falcon, as a landing could be successful without successful payload deployment, or vice versa, so two categories are needed. N828335 (talk) 19:02, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes progress is the important aspect of test flights not the launch when they have launched several times already. I think we may well currently be putting undue weight on landing with that being the only coloured column, Elon clearly thought SN8 was a great success. Having launch and landing columns would reduce that undue weight on landing but it doesn't concentrate on what is important for test flights i.e. progress. I suggest the entries under "Novel test aspects" would be "success", "failure" or "nothing apparent" with "nothing apparent" really meaning 'nothing major announced or obvious'. What is major could be an issue at some point but for the moment this seems a better option to me. crandles (talk) 22:04, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Would anyone take issue to this table?

It makes each part clear, its scalable, objective, and stays in line with how WikiProject spaceflight defines outcomes instead of debating after each launch here.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:00, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I love it, if you don't have strong opposition to it in the next day or ao I say go ahead and change it to that. There are some minor fixes but I'll discuss that in a month or so because there is just too many different things being discussed and I just wanna see it get published. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 01:18, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I do like what we have now, but this might work. N828335 (talk) 02:38, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I made a few tweaks to the layout of this table. N828335 (talk) 02:51, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I am in favor of this table because it clears up the confusion surrounding the launch and landing objectives for each flight. --RunsWthScissors (talk) 04:03, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * This table looks good. It definitely clears up confusion as to what the outcome was for both the launch and landing. I would say that this table should be used in the main article. E.Wright1852 (talk) 15:31, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * This looks fine.--Bvbv13 (talk) 05:33, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Note this is discussion on format of the table. For discussion on SN10 see the Talk:List_of_Starship_flights. crandles (talk) 15:13, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

"Elon Musk knows whether it a success or not"
Welp, he has a huge emotional investment in the project. Could his judgment be tainted by rose-colored glasses? Just sayin'. G'nychall. -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 07:17, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Elon Musk is clearly biased on this topic. We should prefear thrid party references. 10:25, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Indeed. Unless you want to determine success/failure by what Mr Musk declares, with a footnote? -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 12:32, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

pending changes
64.121.103.144 has asked that they be removed. Still needed? Not needed? -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 07:22, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Deepfriedokra Pending changes are still needed due to unexplained content removal and disruptive editing. E.Wright1852 (talk) 18:21, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

BN2 and SN15
Someone has added Starship SN15 and Super-Heavy BN2 to the list. It is not confirmed which pads SN15 and BN2 are going on, and it is unsure if BN2 will fly after SN15. There is also prototypes SN16-20 which may fly before BN2. I will remove the added content and making sure no new prototypes are added to the list unless a prototype is on a pad and is confirmed for a flight. FinTGM (talk) 20:48, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

UPDATE: Content removed. FinTGM (talk) 20:50, 29 March 2021 (UTC)


 * FinTGM, BN2 has 8 raptor mounts, which implies it will fly. BN1 has 2. Also, SpaceX wants to have at least one Booster fly without Starship before the SN20 and BN3 orbital test flight. Also, I put the SN15 and BN2 pad(s) as TBA. Because of this, I have put SN15 and BN2 back. If you want to change it back, please talk to me first. Separated the IP edit for readability - mfb

I suggest adding SN15 and BN2 to the table. User: El Roih keeps removing them. 64.121.103.144 (talk) 00:39, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * We don't know anything about their planned flights apart from "they are planned to do flights at some point". What you added is more speculation than actual information. We can add them back once we have more specific information. BN2 should probably get its own table. The upper stage is called Starship, the combination is called Starship, but Super Heavy alone is not Starship. --mfb (talk) 04:55, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Agree Super Heavy should get separate table. I suggest we shouldn't add prototype/table until it is at least either confirmed as intended to be next flight or being rolled out to launch pad. crandles (talk) 13:22, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I was asked by 64.121.103.144 to comment on this discussion. First, I would like to note it was not me (not this time) who removed SN15 and BN2. But I do not disagree with removing them. Honestly, SpaceX's launch manifest (especially in the case of Starship) is so uncertain, that I would actually recommend (I know that this recommendation will not be followed) that launches should be listed in the flight lists and statistics only after they have actually launched. Writing anything before this point is bound to be very speclative. El Roih.
 * Usually we have the planned launch date a few days in advance, and rough estimates might be available earlier. Add the altitude and other comments (main goals, main changes relative to the previous flight, ... and we have a valid entry. --mfb (talk) 20:33, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

How about a prototype can get added on the list when it is on a launch pad and is confirmed for a flight. Actual information is a win over speculations.FinTGM (talk) 16:38, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Dispute resolution noticeboard closed and semi protection
Semi protection requested on my talk page by DR. Please see Roberts comments at DRN. Unfortunately, my recommendation to seek dispute resolution had already failed. -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 22:23, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

SN10 outcome
There seems to be some debate on what to say for SN10’s outcome. I would argue that it is a success, because the section is listed as “test flight,” and this was after the test flight and should not be considered. N828335 (talk) 23:49, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * It explored because of the test.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 23:52, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Also, in the talk page above us, we already sort of figured this out.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 23:53, 3 March 2021 (UTC)


 * It is speculative to say that the explosion occurred due to the test. I don’t think we have any official confirmation on the cause.N828335 (talk) 00:04, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Then it is also speculative to say that it didn't.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 00:15, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

There is a old joke among pilots: "A good landing is one you can walk away from. A great landing is one where you can reuse the airplane." Results of a test program are not simply success or failure. Classifying the results that way is rather judgemental and highly dependent on perspective. SpaceX may consider the test a success for advancing to the next step and other data they got. Others may be impatient with explosions, Perhaps a more fact-oriented description would be more appropriate, e.g. Destroyed in Flight, Destroyed on Landing, Destroyed After Landing, Recovered. Peterstev (talk) 09:27, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * From an operations point of view a spacecraft that explodes 10 minutes after landing is not better than a spacecraft that explodes on impact. It's even worse, because a delayed explosion might endanger ground crews. But the article is about flights, not recovery. --mfb (talk) 01:34, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

The landing (probably the legs) was clearly off-nominal, so I think what we have right now works well. It was not an issue with recovery. Hopefully we get more information from SpaceX. N828335 (talk) 01:42, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * We will have to wait for more details, but I think "Damaged during landing" might be the best idea. Add a note to say that this damage led to the explosion. N828335 (talk) 01:46, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Arabsat-6A landing back in 2019 was classified as a landing success, despite the booster being destroyed during recovery operations. I would vote for success. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Osunpokeh (talk • contribs) 01:59, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * This is exactly why I would like to make the distinction that it was "Damaged on landing" rather than "destroyed after landing." If it landed perfectly, but then was destroyed by some external factor, then it should be listed as success. However, this is not the case with SN10. Something was clearly off-nominal during the landing phase. Here's roughly what I would put:
 * {|class="wikitable"


 * Damaged on landing
 * }


 * N828335 (talk) 02:16, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't support than the idea of damaged on landing. There were several Falcon 9 landings that resulted in damage to the booster, sometimes being able to fly again, sometimes not. Just so much easier to say it successfully landed and then make a clear note that it blew up minutes later. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 02:45, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm fine with that also, either way. I just don't like what we have now. It does not make it very clear, it could have been destroyed after landing for something completely unrelated to the landing itself. SN5/6 were both destroyed after landing (eventually). N828335 (talk) 02:53, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * From what I've seen, the majority of commenters here (4/5) seem to be OK with leaving it as a success, with a note explaining the destruction. Given that it has been a while without additional comments, I am going to change it to that now, but feel free to continue discussion. If we want to split it into launch/landing, we should start another section to discuss that. Thanks, N828335 (talk) 16:30, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I disagree with success. There is a big difference with Arabsat where problem was ocean being too rough and it fell overboard so almost certainly little or nothing to do with the landing and here where it seems likely that landing bounce damaged rocket creating a methane leak. This sort of damage is different from a leg damage issue whether that is just crush core use or a replacement leg needed but rocket reusable. Without a good source for this I am not sure what we should do but success isn't right unless it just means some progress made (in which case SN8 is also success). 'Destroyed after landing' til we get a good source seems better to me. crandles (talk) 18:21, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I just don't think "Destroyed after landing" makes it clear enough that the issue was caused by the flight itself, not an external factor (like with Arabsat). I agree that Success is probably not the best either. I've also suggested "damaged on landing," but maybe this does not completely show the level of damage present. I guess maybe "Destroyed during recovery?" I think "after landing" is too vague, SN5/6 were also destroyed after landing. N828335 (talk) 18:46, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

All of our Wiki-editor speculations and opinions don't matter. SpaceX said it was a successful test. Like all engineering tests on complex systems with many new things being tested, not every micro piece-part of the engineering test has to go any certain way for it to be successful. The engineers are interating on design, and gathering truly massive amounts of data, and readying the next Starship which will have some differences to test in the next test. There is no customer here, and therefore no objective to measure it against to be "successful" or "unsuccessful." That's just humans wanting to keep score.

Just say what happened, with good sources. And leave it at that. The entire "Outcome" column should not even be there, as that requires synthesis for editors to draw some conclusion. N2e (talk) 20:40, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I agree, removing the entire column might be the best interest. Even the tests currently labeled as successful are kind of vague. Instead of removing it all together, we could replace it with a 1-3 word summary of what happened instead of "Success"/"Failure." For the first 5 tests, say "Recovered," and SN8/9 say "Destroyed on landing" and SN10 say "Destroyed during recovery." This could remove all the objectivity from the column, while still giving a brief overview of the test for someone skimming the article. These are engineering tests, so there really isn't an objective goal like an orbital spaceflight with payload. N828335 (talk) 22:09, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * At what point are they no longer test flights? Obviously all of these have been, but what's the cutoff? An 80km flight (U.S. space definition), 100km flight (F.A.I. definition) or an orbital launch attempt? Those will use the S/P/F system used everywhere else and will necessitate separate launch/landing columns. People's bias WP:POV seems reluctant to classify anything as but 100% successful. This is confirmation bias and can't be used to make an objective statement. Every other launch vehicle, including reusable and test vehicles use that for their respective lists (and reusable endoatmospheric suborbital rockets). This isn't difficult. Kicking the problem down the line won't solve the issue. We'll be back here after SN11 doing the same thing. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 23:18, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * It isn't difficult to suggest anything up to and probably including first orbital flight is a test flight. After that it is operational (meaning can be booked unless that is clearly false) even if there are still tests to be done like orbital refueling. If first orbital flight has a paying customer that is not a related party that might just be paying a token amount then that flight might be considered operational but a few starlinks seems a more likely payload. To me, "Destroyed during recovery" is too suggestive that it had nothing to do with the landing. "Destroyed after landing" is vague which basically is the situation until we get a good ref as to whether the landing caused it or not. crandles (talk) 00:00, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Yes, I agree, I will switch it back to "Destroyed after landing" until further info. I would say that the first orbital attempt should be considered differently, because even if they are "tests," they will have a very concrete determinant of success: reaching orbit. But obviously we can discuss this more down the road. N828335 (talk) 00:48, 5 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I don't see how the landing could possibly be classified as a plain "success", especially not compared to what we hope a full success will eventually look like. I might propose the threshold would be if the vehicle survives to the point that it has a chance to finish "safing". If this was a crewed vehicle--which is the aim--the crew would not have survived without activation of something like a Launch Escape System, and as noted above, any ground crew would have been endangered. The comparison with a Falcon 9 tipping over in the high seas is not apt because the failure there was not the vehicle itself, it was external forces, and arguably even of the droneship; SN10 operated in good environmental conditions and landed on an undamaged concrete pad. Especially once there is a stream of 10 full successes, it will look particularly dishonest to list it as a green success in a summary view. I expect it'll be changed later if not now, because of our biases of wanting a success. - Zerim (talk) 15:38, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Yes, I would label it as a partial success (it completes the task, but with a major issue present). Elon Musk stated that something was off and touchdown velocity was too high. N828335 (talk) 15:44, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Yes agree it isn't success esp now we have Thrust was low despite being commanded high for reasons unknown at present, hence hard touchdown. We’ve never seen this before. Next time, min two engines all the way to the ground & restart engine 3 if engine 1 or 2 have issues. and This was way past leg loads. They got squashed hard. crandles (talk) 17:03, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Added tweet and changed back to partial failure - but wonder if failure is more appropriate than partial failure or maybe hard landing causing destruction 7 minutes later. crandles (talk) 17:16, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * It's not. Directly from SpaceX "SN10’s Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle performed the landing flip maneuver immediately before successfully touching down on the landing pad!" Unless you would like to contradict SpaceX (which sets the precedent for that in the future) Then It needs to be how SpaceX classifies it. Are we going to change the Arabsat-6A booster because it tipped over after.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 20:07, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * What about the Falcon 9 landing from the launch of BulgariaSat-1? Are we going to change that too? It's a landing column, not a landing plus X amount of time after column.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 20:13, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * SpaceX video said successful but that video ended before the rocket blew up. We have more info now. Arabsat fell overboard and the sea state was rough so the implication is that if the sea had calmed down the rocket would have been fine. This is completely different from the situation where Musk is admitting the landing was way too hard. If the explosion was due to some external factor after landing then it is appropriate to say the landing was a success. But here we have evidence that landing was way too hard and in absence of suggestion that that it is down to some other factor after landing, the assumption has to be that the way too hard larding caused the destruction. Do I think there was progress and this should be emphasised? yes, but that seems rejected in favour of your table, and I am ok with that. For your table the question is: Was the landing a success? and the answer is: No it was a failure - the landing caused the destruction of the rocket so how is that anything other than a failure? This doesn't require change to Arabsat. (Incidentally, after BulgariaSat-1, B1029 was retired why was that? I forget and the ref for retired doesn't seem helpful.) crandles (talk) 20:44, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * That was a quote from the SpaceX press release hours after it landed, not before. "the assumption has to be" This is a logical fallacy. We don't know that that the harder landing caused that. There was fire on the vehicle before touchdown. We don't know that the harder landing caused the vehicle to blow up. Musk stated that (the engine throttling problem was before touchdown) there was an issue before it touched down, to unless we know, we shouldn't be using our own assumptions.--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 21:45, 6 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I understand the hesitancy around using our own assumptions and research here, and in an attempt to determine if there is a consensus within media, I came across this article about SN9 and before. It mentions the Challenger disaster, and I was reintroduced to the concluding sentence of Richard Feynman's famous Appendix for the Rogers Commission: "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." I would lean away from the precedence of taking SpaceX PR for its word, even if I think it was 75% a success. But, more objectively, almost all of the SN10 news titles mention both that it landed and exploded, so I think that qualification is essential for the summarization on Wikipedia. Thanks. Zerim (talk) 22:54, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Fire on vehicle is within the landing definition from apogee to touchdown. Nobody is suggesting a cause of explosion originates after touchdown but there are adequate refs for clearly admitted problem(s) before touchdown making landing failure overwhelmingly favourite (few things are completely certain - maybe some maths proofs). Claiming successful landing in such circumstances would be pure PR and/or fandom. crandles (talk) 02:01, 7 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Nah gonna have ti disagree, we have seen many issues on Falcon 9's before touchdown that succeeded and one of them falling over. It was decided they would be successful even though one fell over, I don't see why it should go against Wikipedia consistency policy and break consensuses already made months ago.-AndrewRG10 (talk) 07:31, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Just to name some, KoreaSat caught fire after landing and never flew again. BulgariaSat landed on one leg, Iridium-2 and Starlink L-3 crushed the landing legs due to hard landing. ArabSat 6A fell over not long after landing. They are all successes because they all landed, what happens after landing is irrelevant. -AndrewRG10 (talk) 07:34, 14 March 2021 (UTC)

There has been a lot of Disruptive editing to this article lately in regards to this matter. My advice is to engage in consensus building and not to just change the article with what you think is right. A User has already been blocked and many more will follow if users continue with disruptive editing. E.Wright1852 (talk) 14:29, 14 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Some seem convinced it is success, some convinced it is failure. Isn't the appropriate thing to do to explain the controversy. Most secondary sources are saying it exploded as well as indicating it landed intact. Shouldn't we be doing that? The note which did say SpaceX initially claimed it a success but later admitted problems with engine thrust seemed a useful explain the controversy solution. Arabsat 6A fell overboard in rough seas clearly external problem after landing. Crushed legs are a small replaceable part, BulgariaSat was a second flight of a FT version which never flew more than twice so it was recovered for any inspections SpaceX wanted to do, Iridium-2 flew again with Iridium-4, Starlink-3 was 3rd flight of B1051 which has now flown 9 times, these are all landing successes. KoreaSat booster B1042 only flew once and there are a couple of later FT B4 boosters that flew twice but booster was available for inspection and we don't know if it could have been refurbished and flown again because SpaceX moved on to only using B5 boosters. SN10 had admitted issues before touchdown, lots of people viewed video of 8 minutes after landing and none of them are suggested an external cause from after landing. I think we should stick at this version . crandles (talk) 15:16, 14 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I'm sure people will agree that the test was successful as Spacex gathered vital data to allow them to make adjustments where necessary. However seeing that SN10 Exploded minutes after landing something was clearly wrong and did not go as planned. My Opinion is that the test flight of SN10 was a success but the landing was a failure. As to different sources saying different things, this should clearly be mentioned in the article that there is no confirmed cause of the explosion. E.Wright1852 (talk) 16:53, 14 March 2021 (UTC)

I think that it should be put as Partial Failure. Unfortunately, people keep changing it to failure, and I have to revert it. SN10 landed succesfully, but 2 of the landing legs broke. But it did not explode on landing like SN8 and SN9. SN10 should have some diffrence than the failure put for SN8 and SN9. 64.121.103.144 (talk) 00:50, 30 March 2021 (UTC)


 * We don't edit based on what "we think" or our opinion. You are writing with a bias and that is against Wikipedia's policy of a neutral point of view. There is a note link next to the outcome. The consensus here has been that it was a landing failure. Multiple things went wrong, which caused the vehicle to explode. Stop changing what was decided on without discussing it. "But it did not explode on landing like SN8 and SN9." Yes it did. there were also issues with the legs, with the tanks, engines, pressurization system and tank structure aswell as a methane leak. This caused the vehicle to explode. The landing was a failure, it did not go as planned and the vehicle exploded. Consensus has formed, and we have used that to inform the article. Stop forcing edits that are disruptive and go agaist Wikipedias NPOV requierment. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 07:23, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

Info: This has gone to the DRN: Dispute resolution noticeboard. --mfb (talk) 02:20, 31 March 2021 (UTC)

In the beginning of the talk page, it says to write Destroyed when it is destroyed. We should now obey this rule. 64.121.103.144 (talk) 00:24, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
 * DRN Volunteer Note I will be closing the DRN today because- all of this is WP:OR. You cannot include information based on your judgement or interpretation of data. That is original research. We are an encyclopedia. So until you have reliable sources that literally call the launch a success or failure- you cannot include it in the article. THats not a volunteer opinion- that is WP policy. I'm sure a source exists- and once found, will clear up this entire problem. Nightenbelle (talk) 15:25, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Invitation
Everybody who edits this article should edit the draft, Draft:Starship SN11. 64.121.103.144 (talk) 17:44, 3 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I think it is pretty well established that the subject has no independent notability and that social media posts are not reliable sources. "All content must be cited from reliable sources that are unconnected with the subject and have a reputation for fact checking." -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 22:49, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Maybe someone can make it interesting. It includes a table with the tests.

64.121.103.144 (talk) 21:33, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Everybody who edits this article should edit the draft, Draft:Starship SN15.

64.121.103.144 (talk) 22:19, 4 April 2021 (UTC)

SN9 outcome.
Should we label SN9 as a full failure (or partial failure)? Made it less far than SN8, and landing had a much larger importance in this flight. NEXTspaceflight, a source I use often, list it as such N828335 (talk) 20:59, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Lets keep it the same as SN8. Unless we separate the launch & landing outcomes, they should be combined like this. It wouldn't make much sense to have the outcomes be different for each flight, especially since they were so similar. Both SN8 & SN9 had the same flight criteria. Discords & forums are personal conjecture, not fact. SpaceX issued the same flight criteria for SN9 as they did for SN8. So if we change SN9, SN8 must be changed. I am in favor of a separate launch/Landing column, however. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 21:10, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Maybe both SN8 and SN9 could be labeled as partial failure. On separating in to launch/landing, the general consensus was against, see section on this page. N828335 (talk) 21:59, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, lets do that. Partial failure implies a higher degree of success whereas partial success implies a higher degree of failure. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 22:28, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok, will do. I'll leave the disputed message for a little while longer, in case anyone else wants to comment.N828335 (talk) 23:01, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll suggest a grading scale for future stuff to iron out any future issues we might have on this subject:


 * exoplanetaryscience (talk) 23:30, 2 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Looks good, I can agree with this, at least for suborbital tests. N828335 (talk) 23:45, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Agree with all the above, good balance of "no it didn't land" and "But completed a lot of what is went out to do". OkayKenji (talk • contribs) 01:16, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * As do I --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 03:27, 3 February 2021 (UTC)


 * I don't feel strongly about this but would like to give an opposing view. Is it possible that the gradient is becoming too faceted? I mean by this gradient anything could be called a "partial failure". Even Mk1 succeeded at some of its objectives, but Mk1 was a failure because if failed to deliver on expectations. It failed to prove the design.  We don't want to call SN8 a failure because it succeeded in so many new objectives.  It did prove the design.  But SN9 didn't do that. I agree that SN9 succeeded in providing good data, but it didn't succeed at being the first to accomplish a new test goal.  I would rather say that SN9 failed, but SpaceX learns from failure, than call it something like a partial failure. JaredHWood💬 03:32, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * As a follow up, I would suggest defining the outcomes in a more general way so they can last through orbital testing as well. Following my rational above, I suggest the following:
 * Success - Rocket achieves all test objectives
 * Parital success - Rocket achieves novel test objectives, but not all objectives
 * Failure - Rocket achieves no novel test objectives
 * JaredHW</b><b style="color:#00297a">ood</b>💬 03:54, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , I agree with this. I think SN9 should be characterized as a failure in light of it failing the one thing they haven't been able to do yet. —  Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) (click me!)    18:36, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

For me is so, after swimmming crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to North America, you approach the beach, and exhausted die on Beach....

There is No Partial Die, or you Die or Not... It is Black & White, there is no half pregnancy, or you have a baby or not and so on

Both Rockets died after crossing the Universe, the is no rest, there is no part to count history, the Things were complete destroyed, so

and this is strange also "engines failed to ignite successfully"... what a weird english is this.... or engines ignite or fail..... there is no failed success, very strange your way ro communicate, simply :

"engines failed to ignite" ... basta --2.206.214.240 (talk) 07:26, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The issue with this is that Elon characterized the SN8 flight as better than expected and as a resounding success despite the botched landing. As he should; the flight basically did everything they wanted it to in terms of gathering flight data. They might not have even been planning on flying the thing a second time if it had landed successfully (Some of the other test vehicles only flew once and were then shelved). —  Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) (click me!)    18:34, 3 February 2021 (UTC)


 * I know, people give a too much half full cup of water instead a half empty cup of water to this can, to a thing never will works, ie, too much positive enthusiasm for a thing primitive, which does not do the half space shuttle did, neither soyuz, neither China, neither India does... etc... and no so, wont be reach the half moon track, neither ISS, neither the unbelivible Mars or other planet, no it is 1000 light years far a Millennium Falcon, or any other Star Trek Generation... Humans will never reach a moon without Hollywood ... in past, today and in close future it is a can which dissolves like Vitamin C into a cup of water... so do not understand the insistence with this vertical landing for a too heavy metal, difficult to control tiny... better go back, put some wheels and land like any other still primitive aircraft, like shuttle did, you know, enterprise, columbia, discovery etc.... kkk --2.206.214.240 (talk) 19:01, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok... well that rant isn't worth interacting with further. —  Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) (click me!)    22:16, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

I've tried to summarize and combine the ideas present to close this discussion, here is what I came up with. Please respond here with Support, Oppose, or Neutral and any additional comments to this classification, so we can come to a consensus. Also say where SN9 should fall on this. N828335 (talk) 02:21, 4 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Update, I no longer support this myself after comments from and . It is not the editor's decision, we should instead just list what happened, listing "Destroyed" rather than "Failure." I have left the rest as "Successful" for now, if you have a better terminology please comment. N828335 (talk) 19:08, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

I Support implementing this. Although I would keep SN9 as partial failure because SpaceX did solve the fuel pressure issue that caused SN8 to fail, which was a new test objective in SN9. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 02:18, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

I Support the table. I've thought about this and now I think I could consider SN9 to be a failure. Given that SN8 did ignite both engines albeit the engines failed (because of that pressure issue - which they solved). SN9 'failed' because they didn't successfully ignite the second engine. I don't consider solving an issue from the previous flight but then experiencing a new issue a "new test objective". Though if the consensus is that SN9 is a partial failure like SN8 I will support it. It might be good to get the opinion of an un-involved editor as well. OkayKenji (talk • contribs) 02:50, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Neutral. While I agree with the distinction methodology between partial failure and failure, I don't really see a difference between partial failure and partial success (both of which mean essentially the same, it's just glass half-full or half-empty), Just call them both partial success and be done with it. —  Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) (click me!)    07:42, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

OPPOSE -- I oppose doing this kind of tea leaf grading on test flights of prototype test articles which are (quite naturally) run as proprietary tests by private companies. Why? The companies simply don't make public what the test objectives are of any test. We have no reliable basis to be lumping an entire complex development test as even success or failure, let alone splitting hairs on whether it is a success, partial success, partial failure, or failure. Doing so is original research and/or WP:SYNTHESIS, neither of which are appropriate in Wikipedia articles.

These are not operational flights, with some sort of single success criteria (the goods transported to the destination were either delivered or were not). Development engineering, especially the iterative/incremental development engineering that SpaceX does, simply does not work that way. And we just won't ever have a set of robust sources that agree, and will lead to easy consensus on the part of a set of Wikipedia editors. Cheers. N2e (talk) 16:20, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I completely agree that there is really no reliable basis for determining what are the test objectives and classifying using this system. What should we do instead? Could we just put SN8/SN9 be to use Destroyed rather than Failure ? That way, instead of making an objective determination of the success of the test, we just list what happened. Thanks for your input - N828335 (talk) 16:54, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I like this idea. I support replacing success/failure with retired/destroyed.  <b style="color:#256eff">Jare</b><b style="color:#0044cc">dHW</b><b style="color:#00297a">ood</b>💬 18:53, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I edited it for SN8 and SN9. Not sure what to do for previous tests. I left it as successful for now, I don't feel like "Retired" is the right word, given that they could fly again, like with Starhopper. N828335 (talk) 19:01, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Now that I see it. I like it even better. Let's leave the word "Success" and add sources that say the test were successful. I'm sure we can find those.  I was actually nodding my head in approval when I saw your latest changes. <b style="color:#256eff">Jare</b><b style="color:#0044cc">dHW</b><b style="color:#00297a">ood</b>💬 19:09, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Oppose -- I fear that this entire discussion is WP:SYNTH and WP:OR. I believe that as editors we should not be interpreting sources to decide if the tests were definitive successes for failures. We should be recording what the sources say. If the sources do not declare a standard test outcome, neither should we. I think this is why the issue is difficult for us. We should describe the known objectives and the known outcomes and forgo declaring success/failure. <b style="color:#256eff">Jare</b><b style="color:#0044cc">dHW</b><b style="color:#00297a">ood</b>💬 18:49, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Here's what I've reached based on the comments above. I've already changed it in the template. If no one has significant objections we can leave it.
 * If the vehicle landed in one piece and appeared successful, list it as such. However, add reliable references that say the test was successful.
 * If the vehicle did not land or was otherwise destroyed, use Destroyed . Also add references in this case.
 * In the future, if a vehicle is not destroyed, but the test has flaw somewhere elsewhere, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

N828335 (talk) 19:25, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Not to try & drag this on more, but we could alleviate most of the debate if we had a separate launch and landing column. Make the delineation the flight apogee. If it fly's as expected through apogee, but fails like SN8/9, it would be labeled as a successful launch and a failed landing. This is exactly what we do on the List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches and List of Electron launches pages.
 * Seems like you already added this to the other section on it. We can continue discussion there. N828335 (talk) 22:17, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Graph partial categories
Above reaches conclusion not to use partial in table. But what about the graphs. Should we use partial there and if so what does it mean? If we have graph for landing, should this mean the launch graph should avoid using the landing as determinant of success? crandles (talk) 17:03, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, I agree the consensus above should probably also apply to the graphs. I removed "partial" and "failure" and just replaced it with "destroyed" for now. There were too many categories created anyways. At the same time, this would essentially makes the outcome and landing graphs identical for the time being, just because a prototype has never been destroyed anywhere else. N828335 (talk) 07:31, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Destroyed doesn't give a good view of SN8 outstanding success. I did wonder about trying to say the purpose of SN8 test was mainly about testing ascent and decent and should be shown as a launch success but landing failure. Even if we had good refs for that we may well not know detailed purpose of future tests so I struggle to justify that. Instead I am now wondering whether we can split the flights into launch, ascent, decent and landing so 4 columns for each year. Not sure if that can be done clearly but may tell a fuller story. crandles (talk) 14:17, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Comment to keep discussion on talk page a little longer. Dispute_resolution_noticeboard is quite clear that attempting to characterise in way that isn't clear in the reference is original research so we cannot use partial failure or partial success. C-randles (talk) 12:12, 6 April 2021 (UTC)

What to do about dispute resolution conclusion
I consider the conclusion to be weird in a couple of ways. The conclusion says

The dispute is about original research. The simple answer is this- if a source does not currently exist which clearly calls the launch a success or failure- any analysis of the data is original research and does not belong on WP at all. Also- social media (IE-twitter) is not a WP:RS and if you are going to use the companies own webpage- make sure you are linking directly to the page on that website that is clearly saying "This launch was a success" or "This launch was a failure" do not just link to the homepage and make people hunt to find the statement themselves. Thanks. Nightenbelle (talk) 15:34, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

1. We reached the conclusion that we couldn't use graded outcomes like "partial failure" for the flight because it is original research. Above conclusion may appear to take this further, however we are not calling the test flight a success or failure we are saying there is a landing failure which we have defined as from apogee to landing. So we could conclude this is irrelevant. Requiring an exact word 'success' or 'failure' in the ref is in my opinion silly. There are lots of possible secondary refs and they practically all prominently say it exploded. SN11 exploded mid air, it obviously didn't land successfully and we don't need the exact "failure" word in the ref to call it that.

2. Quoting some random person on twitter obviously is not acceptable. However Elon Musk is spaceX CEO not a random person and his twitter account is an official communication channel for Tesla and SpaceX. He is clearly person in best position to provide reliable information. There is a cite tweet format so it obviously can be used in some circumstances and I believe this is clearly the case with Elon Musk's tweets for this article. crandles (talk) 11:08, 2 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I think that the Landing Outcome column should be all together removed. Maybe it could be replaced by whether it exploded or not?

64.121.103.144 (talk) 16:17, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Please indent your replies or leave an empty line (I added one now), otherwise your comment is put in the same line as the preceding comment which makes reading the discussion difficult.
 * I'm puzzled by the closure as well. If a source calls a flight "flawless", do we need to use that word now? Do we populate the tables with 5 synonyms for "success" and "failure", or even whole sentences? Clearly not. And Musk's tweets are a reliable source for the view of SpaceX. Primary and not independent of course, but perfectly fine to write what SpaceX says/plans. --mfb (talk) 16:38, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

There is disruptive editing happening again in regards to this discussion. Please stop. If you are changing the article to uphold a consensus, change it for that and that only. Disregarding talk page discussions are likely to get you blocked for disruptive editing. E.Wright1852 (talk) 22:00, 2 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Do we have any sources to justify keeping either the launch outcome or the landing outcome columns? The closing statement of the dispute resolution entry applies to both columns, so we need sources for both if they are to be kept. --Joshua Issac (talk) 22:51, 2 April 2021 (UTC)
 * It appears not. No one is finding/providing new sources in this Talk section that were not previously used. N2e (talk) 21:18, 6 April 2021 (UTC)


 * The dispute resolution closure found, just as numerous editors have previously said on this Talk page, that the entire attempt to reduce a complex test flight of many objectives to a single word is simply original research.
 * "The dispute is about original research. The simple answer is this- if a source does not currently exist which clearly calls the launch a success or failure- any analysis of the data is original research and does not belong on WP at all."
 * We don't have a number of sources that agree on either "success" or "failure" with most of these test flights. Therefore, we should simply not have those two columns in the table that summarizes the test flights: Launch outcome and Landing outcome. Instead, it's perfectly acceptable to have a subsection of the article that explicates, in prose, each test flight, from start to finish and even events on the pad before or after, of course with all statements well sourced.  N2e (talk) 11:23, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * You do realise you have just described the Starship development history article which includes the table from here. We don't want to redo that here we want to do a table for use there and in SpaceX Starship. So we still have to decide what to put in the table. We could consider a 'Quick summary' column with 3 to 5 word entries like "Launched and landed", "Exploded on hard landing", "Flip failed exploded on impact", "Landed intact but soon exploded", "Exploded during landing flip". We might then need to consider whether we can colour code these. There are alternatives: e.g. we could stick to the view we are not calling the test a success or failure we are referring to part of the flight for which there is adequate description in several sources. I would suggest that to somewhat go against the dispute resolution we would need a clear consensus and so far that is looking unlikely. C-randles (talk) 14:10, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * If Starship development history has the (sourced) prose to describe each test flight and test article, and also includes the table in this article, that is making a really great argument that this article need not exist at present. Recreate this article when operational flights are flying, ones flying real and objective stuff to orbit.  These test articles don't need so many different Wikipedia articles about them.  They are just integrated system test platforms that SpaceX treats like, wait for it, integrated test platforms. N2e (talk) 17:49, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * For info if you don't know/remember: This used to be a template for use in both articles,Template:Starship_flights/suborbital but it was decided (perhaps in rather rushed manner) it was better as an article. We could reverse that if the majority view has changed since mid Feb 2021 see Template_talk:Starship_flights/suborbital. It is obviously better to have one table to edit once rather than two to edit twice. An alternate way to reduce the article count would be to just put the table in Starship development history and transclude it into SpaceX Starship. Perhaps there is some other way to reorganise SpaceX Starship and Starship development history articles but if you want to do that I think you would need to take it to those articles talk pages. C-randles (talk) 20:21, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Dispute resolution conclusion : one week on
Nearly a week on after the dispute resolution process closed, it seems to me that we have a strong consensus emerging. Moreover, we've had no editors provide new sources that would provide clear grading of the launch outcome and landing outcomes by flight.

Here is a summary of what we see on just the narrow issue of retention of the success/failure columns:


 * "if a source does not currently exist which clearly calls the launch a success or failure- any analysis of the data is original research and does not belong on WP at all. Nightenbelle
 * "we need sources for both [outcome columns] if they are to be kept." --Joshua Issac
 * "we should simply not have those two [outcome] columns in the table that summarizes the test flights N2e
 * "the Landing Outcome column should be all together removed. 64.121.103.144
 * "we couldn't use graded outcomes like "partial failure" for the flight because it is original research" crandles

I have not seen any editor provide an argument and rationale for retaining these succinct outcome columns in this article.

If I've quoted your positions incorrectly, or if anyone has new sources to add, then fix it, or add the sources. But if not, then any editor is free to remove the columns in the table, and we can just describe each flight with the verifiable information that is well sourced, in accordance with wiki policy and guidelines. N2e (talk) 21:18, 6 April 2021 (UTC)


 * After another week with no objection about the evolving consensus, I have removed the "Launch outcome" and "Landing outcome" columns, per discussion and as a result of the Dispute Resolution process. Cheers.  N2e (talk) 01:46, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

There are already citations about the outcomes in the description boxes on each prototype. I have undone your deletion. Should you oppose, you may revert my changes, but in my opinion you should just leave it. We don’t want to have two of the same references on a prototype. FinTGM (talk) 16:23, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Yup, I reverted, to retain the Talk page & Dispute Resolution consensus above. I have started a new section below where you can attempt to build consensus for adding the material back to the article.  N2e (talk) 18:06, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

The quote of me is accurate, but I don't really support the above consensus. What I was sensing was a reluctance to do anything or consider if we needed to replace the columns with something else. C-randles (talk) 22:07, 13 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I have added Vehicle Status to the table. I have added destroyed where it exploded. Please read the top of this talk page where it says how to add it.

64.121.103.144 (talk) 01:02, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

BRD discussion on "Vehicle status" column in the table
In a recent edit, IP editor 64.121.103.144 made a significant change to the article by adding a new column to the table called "Vehicle status" and assigned a value and a color to each of the test flights to date. It was a good faith Bold edit. But let's discuss it here under WP:BRD.

This column may or may not be a good idea; I'm actually agnostic on it at this time. But given the quite recent and rather long-term and multi-editor discussion to remove other columns for which we were short reliable sources, and then became vehicles for endless editor arguments on variou person's views of how the tea leaves ought to be graded, I just think is is best for the idea of such a new column to be Discussed first. Thus the BRD.

With clear sources on "vehicle retired" or "vehicle destroyed" or "vehicle ...", I can personally see such a column possibly surviving, and could possibly add value to the table, and thus the article. What do others think?

I'm less certain about the liklihood of getting editor consensus on the idea of how to color the various boxes. Is "retired" green? or should it be red? Or should it be grey? How would we know? N2e (talk) 14:48, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The artcile is about the flights, not the vehicles. So I see no reason to include the final state of the cehicle here. It should be (and is) included in the List at Starship_development_history Gial Ackbar (talk) 14:52, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Agree with Gial Ackbar again. Vehicle status shouldn't appear in the Starship_development_history article twice. I keep adding this comment in different discussion and not getting any discussion so not sure if it is disliked: Sources aren't really calling the test flight a success or failure and we shouldn't either. However, the sources are reporting whether it launched and landed or exploded and other such details. I don't see why we don't consider a 'Quick summary' column with 3 to 5 word entries like "Launched and landed" for Starhopper and SN5&6, "Exploded on hard landing" for SN8, "Flip failed, exploded on impact" for SN9, "Landed intact but soon exploded" for SN10, "Exploded during landing flip" for SN11. This is about the flights not about status of vehicles. I am less sure about whether colouring them is suitable and permissible, perhaps we shouldn't as that amounts to calling them success/failure again. C-randles (talk) 16:48, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I added it to be a replacement for Launch/Landing Outcome that used to be there. Maybe we could figure out what a new column should be named, because we need to show somehow that SN8-11 were destroyed in the table itself. 64.121.103.144 (talk) 18:47, 14 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Seems like a consensus is beginning to form here that such information about the ship, not the test flight, would be more properly covered in the Starship_development_history article; which it already is. This is merely a table of each test flight, and not a summary of the status of the Starships, for the reasons explained by C-randles.  Cheers.   N2e (talk) 03:30, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Sources for the test flights?
User:FinTGM reverted the removal of unsourced information on the success/failure of the various test flights launches and landings. FinTGM has suggested that sources can be found, but did not add them to the article at the time.

Since that success/failure material was deleted after rather extensive consensus formation here on this Talk page, and in the Dispute Resolution process, I reverted.

I have suggested that if FinTGM wants to undo that edit where material was deleted because it had no sources, a consensus for it should first be built for that, here on this Talk page. Cheers. N2e (talk) 16:28, 13 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Should I insert sources stating the liftoff, landing failures and successes of the vehicles? Should I just copy the sources already in the description box and paste them onto the outcome columns? FinTGM (talk) 16:40, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * There are souces that it exploded. What we would need are unbiased, reliable third pary sources that the tests were failurs. After all, it were tests. The reason for tests is to garther data. If the ship explodes on landing, but SpaceX gains data from it, it was no (total) failure. Gial Ackbar (talk) 17:22, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * For the reason Gail Ackbar just gave, sources aren't really calling the test flight a success or failure and we shouldn't either. However, the sources are reporting whether it launched and landed or exploded and other such details. I don't see why we don't consider a 'Quick summary' column with 3 to 5 word entries like "Launched and landed" for Starhopper and SN5&6, "Exploded on hard landing" for SN8, "Flip failed, exploded on impact" for SN9, "Landed intact but soon exploded" for SN10, "Exploded during landing flip" for SN11. C-randles (talk) 22:21, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

If you go to the List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches Wikipedia page, and go to the “Past flights” section, you will find that most of the outcome boxes are unsourced. This is probably because most information about the outcomes are not to be mostly seen on sites such as Twitter. Go to the New Shepard Wikipedia page, and go to the “Full flight list” section. You will also see there that none of the outcomes have citations to them. You can see from both examples that the most of the citations are from the description boxes, just similar to what the Starship Flight list is like. So I just recommend the outcome boxes get inserted back in. Match the List of Starship flights page like the examples. FinTGM (talk) 08:21, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
 * That's an entirly different situation. Those are mostly operational flight. They have a well defined goal of putting a payload in a specific orbit and potentially landing the first stage. Here we are talking about test flights. As said before, the goal of a test flight is to generate data. A test flight would therefor at least be a prartial success if data is generated, even if the vehicle is destroyed. Gial Ackbar (talk) 09:26, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree operational flights is a different situation to test flights here because there is clear objective to get something into orbit with operational flights. New Shepard are test flights like here, so maybe discussions here mean that page could be wrong to call the test flights as "success". OTOH since they are landing and re-flying same booster and capsule and there is talk of crew on their next test flight, then there seems plenty more reason to call the New Shepard test flights successes. C-randles (talk) 10:45, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

SN15 NET April 2021: lol
Our Date for the launch of SN15 currently cites a source for "No Earlier Than (NET) April 2021". Since we are already in April 2021, this does not actually provide _any_ information on when the flight will take place. As such it would be simpler to just 'TBD' or whatever placeholder is used when no information is available. Lklundin (talk) 22:20, 24 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I would argue it does convey information, as it implies that it could launch as early as this month. N828335 (talk) 23:20, 24 April 2021 (UTC)

Undue Tag
Afte SN10 "exploded eight minutes after landing", someone place with hidden note saying "is accurate but overemphasizes the post-flight test events 'cause those make news; SpaceX accomplished a rather large number of test flight objectives, ostensibly most of them, prior to the hard landing.  Wikipedia descriptions should not lean to a WP:POV". I disagree. The sources are all prominently saying it exploded or something similar. Hiding this would be pushing a POV, including it is necessary. I suggest this should be removed. C-randles (talk) 15:25, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree, we can't leave it out. We could add more about achieved test objectives before, but on the other hand the landing was the main objective that had not been demonstrated by SN8/9. N2e what do you think? --mfb (talk) 16:38, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, can't be left out. But the text is simply missing even what SpaceX has said repeatedly, on the webcast and some news outlets have written about, what happened in the 6+ minutes of genuine flight testing that occurred before the flip and attempt at a landing. That's all.  The prose should simply be balanced about the whole test flight, not just the part humans love to focus on, and media loves to report.  (i.e., "if it bleeds explodes, it leads." N2e (talk) 17:47, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * "The flight was successful until the planned landing maneuver"? We can add the same sentence to SN9 by the way. --mfb (talk) 18:02, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Launch Table and Super Heavy Booster
Will we add Super-Heavy boosters to the launch table like we do with each Starship Prototype, or will they go to a different table, or even an entirely different page? 12.186.169.130 (talk) 16:37, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I think it is too hard to decide right now, because we're not sure what SpaceX will do. They might never fly a booster without a Starship on top. Not sure if we should break the tables by configuration or destination. N828335 (talk) 17:35, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Okay does it sound like it would be a better idea to wait on this "potential issue" until what you mentioned occurs or something else before discussing this further?12.186.169.130 (talk) 17:45, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @N828335, @12.186.169.130: Let's wait until we know if BN2 or BN2.1 will fly. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 18:31, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Starbase Launch Site
I know that SpaceX had been started to refer the Boca Chica's launch site as Starbase, Texas. But what I see from current revision, any flight that take place before SN11 (when the commentator refer the site as Starbase) or before SN10 (Musk's first reference for Starbase TX on his tweet) is listed as Starbase too. Since Starbase is "not exist" prior to at least SN10, would it be possible to just write "Boca Chica Launch Site" for flight prior to SN10 (and add some explanation on SN11 about the naming change to Starbase)? Thanks. FarhanSyafiqF (talk) 01:40, 28 April 2021 (UTC)


 * What you describe is how it was a few days ago, as Starbase first came into the table. I'll take a look.  N2e (talk) 03:13, 28 April 2021 (UTC)


 * At the moment everything should be left as Boca Chica. Starbase is not yet officially created, and is only used casually by SpaceX and others. However, I think we should keep it consistent throughout the table, as the site listed should be the current name, not the name at the time (In the future, when Starbase is commonplace, Boca Chica would create confusion that it was actually from a different location). N828335 (talk) 03:16, 28 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I checked. Those changes were made by User:BM6 on 16 April.  It is of course incorrect to call anything "Starbase" before SpaceX began referring to the place as Starbase.  But it is too late to do a simple "Undo", as intervening edits make that impossible.  Someone will need to manually back out the incorrect information.  N2e (talk) 03:20, 28 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Starbase doesn't exist yet per Boca_Chica_(Texas) just a casual enquiry so far. So I think we are better not including it in an address looking format in any table row, and instead having a note in the table header. Such as in this version . C-randles (talk) 14:25, 28 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes. Until the naming is official, it's better to be written as current revision. Thanks for the discussions! FarhanSyafiqF (talk) 15:28, 28 April 2021 (UTC)
 * @FarhanSyafiqF@C-randles@N2e@N828335: It has now been officially named Starbase. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 00:39, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Source? Putting up a few illuminated letters is not an official name change. --mfb (talk) 02:46, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * The beach itself still referred as "Boca Chica beach", and no, it's not yet officially listed on Cameron County website (except if you refer to SpaceX website). Until other official entities refer that as Starbase other than SpaceX itself, better not change anything. Thanks for the information by the way FarhanSyafiqF (talk) 07:31, 21 May 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 18 May 2021
<div class="boilerplate" style="background-color: #efe; margin: 1em 0 0 0; padding: 0 10px 0 10px; border: 1px dotted #aaa;">
 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

List of Starship flights → List of Starship launches – I think that this should be moved because people could think that this is a list of starship flights in Star Trek. Please place your rationale for the proposed move here. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 18:57, 18 May 2021 (UTC) —Relisted.  P.I. Ellsworth   ed.  put'r there 10:23, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Update: There is a new proposed title List of Starship launches. I kept the original move proposal as most of the discussion addressed the old title, see below for the new proposal. --mfb (talk) 01:29, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Having two RMs open at the same time is confusing, so I have removed the second one (per WP:RM: "Do not create a new move request when one is already open on the same talk page. Instead, consider contributing to the open discussion if you would like to propose another alternative." as pointed out by Rreagan007 comment below). The original one is shown above with strikethrough formatting. The proposer's new suggestion is above without strikethrough. Other titles have also been suggested in the discussion. —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 17:28, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: the original proposal to rename to List of SpaceX Starship flights was changed to the above as noted by nom on 22 May 2021. It has been removed from the above to fix the malformity in this request.  P.I. Ellsworth   ed.  put'r there 10:21, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't think we should move an article just because of that. Mistaking an article for another one happens a lot but I don't think they require a page move / rename. 12.186.169.130 (talk)
 * Also whenever I search up starship flights in the search bar I never see star trek and it is also immediately clarified so I really think this isn't necessary. 12.186.169.130 (talk) 19:06, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * But, I still think that it would be a good move. Do you support or oppose? StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 19:09, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And, sometimes spacecraft are called starships. If it was moved, it would prevent mistakes. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 19:10, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * No they're not, at least out of ones that are actually flying. osunpokeh (talk) 02:14, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia covers fictional, speculative and future topics as well as currently operating physical things, and there have been historical and non-spacecraft flying Starships in physical reality as well. —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 14:39, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * This is a strong Oppose 12.186.169.130 (talk) 19:11, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Strong oppose. (voted again so this is invalid) List of Starship flights is concise enough, and aligns with precedent of List of Falcon 1 launches and List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. "List of SpaceX Starship flights" is unnecessarily long. Fans of a TV show involving starships will look for episode lists, not flight lists. osunpokeh (talk) 21:03, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * There is no article called "", so how is that a precedent? Is there anything else that is known as "Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy" that can launch (either in fiction or reality, as long as it is discussed on Wikipedia)? I don't see a hatnote at the top of that article to indicate that there is any ambiguity about the subject of "Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches". —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 01:32, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * There was an article named List of Falcon 1 launches.
 * Also, there are articles titled List of Atlas launches, List of Thor and Delta launches, List of Proton launches, List of Electron launches, List of Ariane launches, List of Long March launches, et cetera. osunpokeh (talk) 03:25, 21 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Oppose Title is fine for the moment. Eventually it may need to be renamed to 'List of Starship development test flights launches' or something similar. C-randles (talk) 22:19, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Strong support "Starship" is a business airplane, and, Led Zeppelin's touring airplane The Starship; thus this is highly ambiguous, as this rocket "flies" less that it is directed through the air by vectored thrust and gravity instead of aerodynamic forces on the wings. "the Starship" even has a flight itinerary -- 67.70.27.180 (talk) 22:54, 18 May 2021 (UTC) This referred to the proposed List of SpaceX Starship flights
 * It should be called List of SpaceX Starship launches then, per the new proposal, to be WP:CONSISTENT with the base article SpaceX Starship and Category:SpaceX Starship; all-in-all all the rocket launch lists should be transitioned from "flights" to "launches" -- 67.70.27.180 (talk) 07:12, 27 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Support, consistent with SpaceX Starship and Category:SpaceX Starship. 162 etc. (talk) 22:56, 18 May 2021 (UTC) Edited to add: I do not support the proposed move to List of Starship launches. I'm neutral on "flights" vs. "launches", but the name of the vehicle should be "SpaceX Starship", not "Starship". 162 etc. (talk) 02:56, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And with List of SpaceX Falcon 9 and SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches, List of Energia Soyuz missions, List of United Launch Alliance Atlas launches, List of NASA Space Shuttle missions, List of CALT Long March launches, List of ULA Delta launches, List of Khrunichev Proton launches, List of Rocket Lab Electron launches, the list goes on and on. osunpokeh (talk) 02:09, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Support per WP:PRECISION, "Starship" is too ambiguous. Carguychris (talk) 23:10, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * There is only one launch vehicle named "Starship" right now. It's honestly not ambiguous at all. osunpokeh (talk) 02:11, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * BUT there are at least two other notable nonfictional flying things that are called "Starship," per 67.70.27.180 above. The term "flights" could naturally be misconstrued as flights of an aircraft rather than a spacecraft. Carguychris (talk) 14:00, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And which would those be? osunpokeh (talk) 15:36, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Beechcraft Starship and The Starship. Carguychris (talk) 15:44, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Support, but with lowercase "flights" per MOS:CAPS. Support is per 162 etc. The proposed title is natural and consistent. This is about flights of the SpaceX Starship, so just use that form for its title. —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 00:45, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Agree with the lowercase f, did not notice that in the OP. 162 etc. (talk) 03:11, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @BarrelProof @162 etc.: ✅ StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 14:43, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And launches seems even better, per osunpokeh below. —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 12:59, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Now the proposal has been changed to not include "SpaceX" but to use "launches". I think this most recent change has introduced confusion. There are now also two RM templates here, and some of the template content is mixed up (e.g., part of the template at the top still says the proposal is to move to but another part says the proposal is now to move it to ). The proposer does not own this RM, and I suggest that the most recent editing of the proposal is unhelpfully confusing. I support  per 162 etc. For example, that would be consistent with SpaceX Starship and Category:SpaceX Starship. —&#8239;BarrelProof (talk) 15:05, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @BarrelProof: Support StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 15:11, 22 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Support there is no way that the spacex rockets are the primary topic for 'Starship'—blindlynx (talk) 14:18, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Support to be WP:CONSISTENT with the primary topic located at SpaceX Starship. Rreagan007 (talk) 16:31, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Move Update
 * Oppose: 3 (12.186.169.130, osunpokeh, C-randles)
 * Support: 6 (67.70.27.180, 162 etc., Carguychris, BarrelProof, —blindlynx, Rreagan007)
 * More users support the move than oppose. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 17:52, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * This isn't a WP:VOTE, moveslike most things on wikiare based on WP:Consensus—blindlynx (talk) 20:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Support a captital S is not really enough to be helpful or meaningful, and SpaceX is the brand In ictu oculi (talk) 22:07, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Oppose but rename to launches for consistency. The Starship developed by SpaceX is the only use where a list of flights using the current title could make sense. The existence of other things called "Starship" is not relevant as long as they can't reasonably be discussed under this title. This is a pattern we use for all launch lists, see the Category:Lists of rocket launches. The Electron bird can fly, but it doesn't stop us from using List of Electron launches. We could change flights->launches for consistency, however. That could also avoid concerns others have brought up. --mfb (talk) 02:58, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Strong oppose List of SpaceX Starship flights, support List of Starship launches  as per mfb. This is a rocket, the proper terminology for a rocket "flight" is almost always a launch. osunpokeh (talk) 03:04, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Comment in support, "launches" is certainly better than "flights" as it would be more technically accurate, and would avert confusion with flights of notable aircraft named Starship. I don't quite understand the aversion to also putting "SpaceX" in the article title, but that's not the hill I want to die on. Carguychris (talk) 14:30, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @Mfb, @Carguychris, @Osunpokeh I've changed the request to List of Starship launches. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 14:51, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * this pretty much invalidates all of the above discussion, but yeah, it's the better idea osunpokeh (talk) 15:47, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I made a separate section. I support my proposal obviously. --mfb (talk) 01:29, 22 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Procedural comment. There should not be a second RM open on the same page. Per WP:RM: "Do not create a new move request when one is already open on the same talk page. Instead, consider contributing to the open discussion if you would like to propose another alternative.". Rreagan007 (talk) 01:59, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I see this as one RM discussion that will have one resolution. Feel free to replace the second instance of the template by some other way to point out the alternative proposal. --mfb (talk) 13:28, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Comment Do people see this being moved, in due course, to 'List of Starship development test launches'? Does that place too much emphasis on launches being developed rather than later aspects of flight like ascent, staging, belly flop descent, landing? Or does launch adequately cover whole of the flight? Launch does help distinguish rocket from aircraft, but what is the standard way to do that? Perhaps adding manufacturer is more of a standard way to disambiguate but then 'List of SpaceX Starship development test launches' is getting rather long. C-randles (talk) 13:59, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Many suborbital test launches of prototypes is something new as far as I know (maybe not counting the very early rockets). I could see us moving suborbital launches into the development article in the future. If Starship delivers what SpaceX promises then we'll see the list of launches growing very rapidly once rapid reuse has been established, maybe to the point where we stop listing every single launch. I think that's a discussion we can have once there have been a few orbital launches. --mfb (talk) 15:57, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
 * And Shuttle. Enterprise flew 5 atmospheric glide tests. osunpokeh (talk) 07:15, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
 * They are of course already transcluded into SpaceX Starship development history. C-randles (talk) 18:08, 22 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Comment this thing as gotten super confused can someone close it and start a new MR with the new proposal?—blindlynx (talk) 19:17, 28 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I think the two viable options at this point are and . Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that. I prefer the latter. I don't think we need another RM unless it's much more complicated than that. —&#8288;&#8202;&#8288;BarrelProof (talk) 15:33, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Based on those two options, I support per WP:CONSISTENT. Carter (talk) 16:05, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Problem is all of the supports before 28 may were for and now it looks like they're for
 * Actually, I think the early ones were for . But "launches" was then suggested, and that seemed widely embraced. —&#8288;&#8202;&#8288;BarrelProof (talk) 02:34, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Fair, but the point is still that most supports wanted 'spacex' in the title—blindlynx (talk) 13:32, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Please indicate below if you would prefer:
 * A Leave as: List of Starship flights
 * B Change to: List of Starship launches
 * C Change to: List of SpaceX Starship launches
 * D Change to: List of SpaceX Starship flights
 * E Change to: List of Starship development test launches
 * F Change to: List of SpaceX Starship development test launches


 * I favour E or if people insist on having manufacturer then F is OK though this doesn't seem necessary to me. Others like B or C are just going to result in another rename, but maybe that is OK. C-randles (talk) 14:48, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * My preference is C. In the age of private space launch companies, including the company name makes good sense to me. I also don't (at this point) see a need to label these as "development test" launches. Perhaps in the future when regular launches are occurring it might make sense to consider forking away from the development launches, but at this point it seems unnecessary. Carter (talk) 14:58, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Restarting again the discussion and putting lots of options on the table is not helpful. The two viable options at this point are and . I suggest the latter (C above). —&#8288;&#8202;&#8288;BarrelProof (talk) 15:26, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Agreed, though maybe WP:NUKEIT and restart with just those two options isn't the worst idea—blindlynx (talk)
 * C—blindlynx (talk) 20:58, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

<div style="padding-left: 1.6em; font-style: italic; border-top: 1px solid #a2a9b1; margin: 0.5em 0; padding-top: 0.5em">The discussion above is closed. <b style="color: #FF0000;">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Split "Orbital test flight" into new article
Believe that Orbital test flight should be moved back to Draft:Starship orbital test flight. As this is the first flight of an orbital vehicle, it is notable enough to warrant a separate article. It's going to end up in ITN eventually, so we should start writing that article sooner rather than later. Also, this is a list article, and a full description of a test flight really doesn't belong here.

@StarshipSLS, @N828335

osunpokeh (talk) 20:55, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

osunpokeh (talk) 20:55, 18 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Oops. I didn't anticipate for the reply tool to automatically add a signature. osunpokeh (talk) 20:56, 18 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Why not wait until this section grows to big? Redirect works well enough til then. C-randles (talk) 22:21, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Because, as I stated above, this is a list article — short summaries only. Dedicating an entire section of this article to an orbital test flight really violates the intent of the article does it? osunpokeh (talk) 02:15, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @Osunpokeh: N828335 determined to put it in this article for a short time so it can be developed. I agree with them that after it gets developed it should be put as a separate article. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 14:39, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I will put it back to the drafts but keep the section here until it gets approved. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 15:10, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * The reason why it was not approved was not due to the content of the article, but rather the subject. This will not be fixable through revisions, so the only option would be to override this through discussion, not by improving the draft. N828335 (talk) 15:21, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @N828335 As already being told on your talk page your assumption is not correct. Wikipedia is not a promo organization for future Starship flights and not a newspaper at all per NOTNEWS and Spam. This section is simply not notable, not here inserted and not as a draft. CommanderWaterford (talk) 17:34, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @CommanderWaterford: This mission is like Falcon Heavy test flight. So, why can't this? StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 17:58, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @StarshipSLS This question tells me that you still does have not understand our content policies or that you are simply not reading them. Currently your "draft" is a pre-announcement, a promotional one further. Falcon Heavy Test Flight is an article about a flight that happened - in the past and received sufficient coverage for being notable. @JackReynoldsADogOwner fyi CommanderWaterford (talk) 18:01, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * @CommanderWaterford: @JackReynoldsADogOwner:Understood! So, the draft could be published when it is closer to the flight? And, I did read the policies, but I forgot that part. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 18:04, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

My draft was submitted to AfC and declined for "Submission appears to be a news story of a single event" by. Consider WP:DELAY. If we come to a consensus here that this complaint is invalid and it deserves its own article, I'm fine with that. However, there is no point making it a draft, because this can not be fixed by making improvements to the text, so the alternative would be to delete the section entirely (saving it in revision history for the future). N828335 (talk) 15:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * @N828335: CommanderWaterford is actually my mentor and I will ask him how we can improve it and get it accepted. StarshipSLS (Talk), (My Contributions) 15:25, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

NET?
Could someone specify what NET means? There is no definition even on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NET Please dont use nerdy acronyms on wiki pages without link or clarification! 47.67.197.22 (talk) 13:24, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
 * "All dates for future flights are speculative, and therefore approximate and "no earlier than" (NET) dates" - it's explained in the article at the first second mention. --mfb (talk) 15:13, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

Flown nine times
Looks like the first sentence already said "flown nine times" before today's launch, but I don't want to make the change myself in case the true number might be 9, or 10, or what have you; merits review — DFlhb (talk) 00:19, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

S16 image
Given that S16 never flew, why is there an image of it in this article? Redacted II (talk) 16:32, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Planned flights.
The planned flights section's sources do NOT mention August as the date starship flies again, and given the FAA's grounding until further notice, I doubt it will happen. Death Editor 2 (talk) 22:05, 3 July 2023 (UTC)


 * NET August. Meaning NO EARLIER THAN. Redacted II (talk) 13:33, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

Why the TAO of the second flight is linked to the LEO
I noticed that Transatmospheric orbit is linked to Low Earth orbit after this modification. Is it right? Yusancky (talk) 16:51, 24 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Just switch it back to TAO and label it as a "minor edit" Redacted II (talk) 14:08, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Yusancky (talk) 02:17, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Ift-2 booster landing
Why does it say failure? There was no booster landing intended, only a minor boostback. Or am i wrong? Fehér Zsigmond-03 (talk) 11:49, 3 January 2024 (UTC)


 * Because it blew up seconds after stage sep. Chuckstablers (talk) 15:43, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Does that make sense? It did not get close to attempting it's landing. The intention was to practice a landing sequence, and then crash into the ocean at a slow speed. It did not do this, hence it failed. Chuckstablers (talk) 15:44, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Okay, but shouldnt we say boostback failed for extra clarity? Fehér Zsigmond-03 (talk) 11:08, 5 January 2024 (UTC)
 * The booster failed in the sequence that would have led to its landing. We did the same for Falcon boosters: If they separated and were supposed to land but didn't land then it was a failed landing. Doesn't matter if they broke up in the atmosphere (first two flights) or crashed into the drone ship. --mfb (talk) 14:16, 5 January 2024 (UTC)

IFT-3
Does anyone have an IFT-3 draft? Redacted II (talk) 18:33, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

Citation for ift-3 not available in europe.
It just says "not available for ypur country" (Portugal) 87.196.74.48 (talk) 08:16, 21 February 2024 (UTC)


 * PS: The date citation for itf-3 87.196.74.48 (talk) 08:18, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * PS2:https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/musk-spacex-to-launch-third-starship-by-second-week-of-march/ 87.196.74.48 (talk) 08:22, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

TAO v.s Suborbital
@Jrcraft Yt

A NOTAM for March 14th is consistent with a 50 by 222 km orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell.

That would make IFT-3 TAO, just like IFT-1 and IFT-2 were supposed to have been. Redacted II (talk) 18:01, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

IFT-3 not a suborbital test?
It was my understanding that IFT-3 would actually be the first of the IFTs to obtain a perigee above suborbital classifications and was performing a deorbit burn to then splashdown into the Indian Ocean before completing a full orbit. It just seems odd to put IFT 3 in the suborbital test page and not include the previous two test flights which were far more suborbital in scope. KalebJaS (talk) 05:19, 7 March 2024 (UTC)


 * thanks for the extensive additions and changes to the article. was overdue. especially the move back to orbital. the self-proclaimed owner of this page added so many fishy tings that it was almost fakenews. 47.67.197.20 (talk) 22:17, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

B9 landing failure
@KalebJaS boostback is included as a part of landing, and not ascent.

Therefore, B9's landing attempt was a failure (unlike B7s, as it never got to make an attempt) Redacted II (talk) 18:37, 7 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Gotcha. After some more thought, I'll agree with that. KalebJaS (talk) 22:27, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

Sources?
Are there any sources for a) the name "IFT"? Space X only speaks of "third flight test". If not, this is TF. b) 9 (nine!) planned tests in 2024 according to the graphic? Or another TF? All citations missing! 47.67.197.20 (talk) 08:16, 8 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Nine flights: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/spacex-seeks-to-launch-starship-at-least-nine-times-this-year/
 * Multiple media sources call it IFT-3, such as https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1765586241934983320, https://thespacecoastrocket.com/spacexs-starship-ift-3-hls-paving-the-way-for-lunar-exploration/ Redacted II (talk) 13:43, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

IFT-3 launch outcome
Currently the launch outcome result diagram displays IFT-3 as a "loss after staging". However, the launch itself was completely successful, which is backed up by media coverage. Unless reentry qualifies as part of the launch, this should be changed to "success". ChekhovsGunman (talk) 14:00, 15 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I've changed this, but if anyone disagrees just tell me. ChekhovsGunman (talk) 14:11, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

Static fires and wet dress rehearsals
Should we also add static fires and wet dress rehearsals in here as well? 24/7 live coverage at Starbase has guaranteed that nearly all static fires and wet dress rehearsals have been documented. CactiStaccingCrane (talk) 05:18, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't call them flight tests, and I don't think there will be much interest in them in 5 years from now. --mfb (talk) 07:13, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
 * No, because those are covered in the Super Heavy and Starship (Spacecraft) articles. Redacted II (talk) 16:13, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

IFT-5 Catch
Can someone edit the IFT-5 part of the page to say there will be a catch attempt if Booster 11 has a successful splashdown during IFT-4. Thanks DarthMacOG (talk) 16:48, 8 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Already done Redacted II (talk) 12:05, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

Why "Suborbital/Orbital" campaign?
Why "Suborbital/Orbital" campaign and not simply name the things what they are, the "Single-stage tests" and "Full-stack tests" ? 2001:569:7C19:D900:F502:D043:34C1:E480 (talk) 09:52, 15 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Because the Single-vehicle flights were suborbital, and the full-vehicle testing has been either orbital or close to orbital Redacted II (talk) 12:06, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
 * So basically that's what I am saying: the "suborbital/orbital" is vague and inaccurate. Much more accurate titling would be "single-stage" and "full-stack" tests rather than "suborbital" and "orbital, but not always orbital, sometimes close to orbital"? 2001:569:7C19:D900:81FD:C180:BECC:F403 (talk) 06:55, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Done Redacted II (talk) 11:09, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * upper stage flight tests
 * integrated flight tests
 * These two sound better than my proposal, win-win! 🚀
 * 🚀🚀🚀 2001:569:7C19:D900:8463:F095:8F5B:8166 (talk) 08:43, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

Included FAA Mishap
Failing to note that the FAA declared a Mishap would be depriving readers of valuable information. Redacted II (talk) 13:14, 27 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Mishap investigations have been the case for all previous flight tests but none of the previous ones are mentioned in this article. We do have the mishap mentioned in the articles about the test flights themselves but I don't think it would be necessary to mention it in that section, especially given that none of the previous flights mentioned it. User3749 (talk) 13:38, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Alright, self-reverting Redacted II (talk) 14:01, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

Do we need a Integrated Test Flight 4 page yet

 * i was wondering if we should make the wikipedia page for starship flight test 4 yet or should we wait for the flight plan to release?
 * Given that it will happen in the next few (3-5) weeks, yes.Redacted II (talk) 15:55, 11 May 2024 (UTC)