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.
9:00am- Lifts were up at the staircase and behind the cryo leg (Maybe at the old staircase) overnight. Workers were busy on the dance floor. Didn’t notice anything happening at the ground level.
12:25pm- Lifts are down. No signs of anything going on at S26. Another big beam went up at the star factory. It’s really going to block the view of the high bay when it’s done.
3:10pm- Lift up by the old staircase.
5:55pm- Maybe 2nd shift will be more exciting
8:55pm- It hasn’t. Lift up to the top of the OLM by the cryo leg
11:00pm- Lift up at the top of the staircase and the top of the OLM still. Workers could be seen going up the stairs as well. No lights are on, on the dance floor.