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.
7:24am- LR11000 picks up the ring lifting jig and swings over to hot staging ring. Looks like they are done with the work on top of B9
7:30am- Lowers the lifting jig down to the ring
8:10am- Workers are on the SQD and on top of B9
8:47am- Workers retract the work platform on the SQD
9:00am- Lifts went up to the staircase and dance floor overnight. More sparks could be seen coming from the OLM ring to the right of the staircase. AWP left the pad area
9:08am- Ring is lifted and 2 AWP’s are going up
9:20am- Swings over to B9
9:25am- Workers helping to line it up
9:31am- Down on top of B9
9:34am- Worker climbs into the HSR
9:39am- Workers disconnecting the lifting cables
9:47am- Lifting jig is lifted away from B9 and AWP's go down
10:04am- SQD work platform is swung back over to the end of the arm
10:38am- LR11000 disconnected from the lifting jig
12:20pm- Workers up on the SQD
1:00pm- LR11000 moves over to the sub orbital pad area
1:15pm- Lift has been up at the top of the staircase
3:44pm- AWP goes up to one of the latch points between B9 and the HSR.
4:09pm- Work platform at the end of the SQD is swung away
4:21pm- AWP goes back down. Sensor was showing the latch didn’t work?
4:30pm- AWP goes back up. Needed to grab something?
4:33pm- After some quick work, they go back down again
6:24pm- Venting at Massey’s. S29 cryo starting?
6:47pm- LR11000 is lowering the squid to the top of S26 and an AWP is going up to hook it up
7:04pm- Klaxon and announcement. I can make out personal and orbital pad.
7:17pm- Frost on S29
7:41pm- Lox tank is full frosty on S29
8:12pm- Full frosty
9:10pm- Lift has been up at the right chopstick
9:27pm- AWP goes back up to the top of B9. Other side of booster compared to earlier
9:55pm- AWP comes back down. No view of what they were doing on SBL or Rover 2
10:30pm- Frost is receding on S29. Lift up to the dance floor