When (first) orbital flight?First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. "The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship."
What's happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/"shower head" system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM?Musk tweeted on April 21: "3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch." Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.
8:25am- Several workers arrive at the deluge tank farm and climb up to the pressure pipe on top of the large tanks. 2 lifts up at the OLM and 1 up at S26
8:54am- LR11000 picks up a ring lifting jig
9:15am- Swings it over to B9 and worker on top starts connecting it to the hot staging ring
9:20am- S29 has been lifted in the high bay with the new jig
9:42am- Ship thrust simulator is being moved into the high bay. Looks like S29 may be headed to Massey’s during tonight’s closure
10:22am- AWP going up to the hot staging ring
10:25am- Hot staging ring lifted off of B9
10:27:30am- Swings over to right side of OLM and starts lowering
10:38am- Looks like it’s down
11:01am- Hot staging ring disconnected from the crane
11:11am- Lifting jig disconnected from crane
1:25pm- One lift has been up under the OLM and one under the OLM.
4:35pm- Workers have been on top of B9 but it’s been a pretty quiet afternoon otherwise
6:27:56pm- 26.1 goes pop at Massey’s
7:20pm- One lift has been up under the OLM
9:35pm- Welding can be seen on the dance floor and a lift is up to the staircase platform