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.
8:30am- Lifts were up to the top of the OLM, under the OLM, and to the bottom of S26 overnight. Workers could be seen on the dance floor along with some welding going on.
10:25am- 1 lift up under the OLM. Right side of staircase looking at the pipe work
1:30pm- 3 lifts up under the OLM. 2 over by the cryo leg and 1 in the same spot as earlier
4:00pm- 1 lift up behind the cryo leg
7:53pm- Workers are on top of B9. Otherwise it's been a pretty quiet afternoon
8:49pm- E dome test tank turns on to Hwy 4 headed to Massey’s
9:27pm- Turns into Massey’s
9:50pm- One lift was up to the top of the staircase and workers could be seen moving around on the dance floor.