Trace Starship Flight 4 from Starbase to two ocean endpoints. Compare the operator’s account, the regulator’s records and signals recorded by outside instruments.
This study concerns SpaceX’s flight operations. It uses a reported sequence and published research; no complete raw telemetry reconstruction has been performed.
07:50 CDT · 12:50 UTC, to the minute
SpaceX reports launch from Texas and a completed booster ascent burn.
How to read it: Propulsion changes the vehicle’s momentum. A video or public speed display does not by itself supply calibrated acceleration or engine thrust.
Next evidence: Synchronized launch clock, sensor definitions and time-tagged ascent state vectors.
SpaceX states liftoff to the minute. No independently synchronized event-clock extraction has been performed here. Untimed phases remain untimed; we have not invented a continuous altitude or speed curve.
SpaceX’s stated duration to booster splashdown. Adding this to the reported launch minute gives approximately 12:57:24 UTC; this is derived clock arithmetic, not a second independent observation.
The company’s rounded duration to ship splashdown gives about 13:56 UTC. The two durations refer to different vehicles. The ship coast and booster return overlap.
07:50 CDT · 12:50 UTC, to the minute
SpaceX reports launch from Texas and a completed booster ascent burn.
Reported minute, not an independently timed zero
Sequence reported · exact event time not extracted here
The operator describes ignition of the upper stage’s six engines before the two vehicles separate.
No numeric time assigned
After separation · no measured timestamp transcribed
SpaceX reports a flip, boostback burn and hot-stage adapter jettison.
Sequence only
T+07:24 · operator-reported duration
The company reports a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Reported to the second; clock calibration not obtained
After powered ascent · no numeric state series obtained
SpaceX reports that the upper stage reached its planned coast trajectory.
No altitude or speed curve supplied here
Entry phase · no calibrated heat-flux series obtained
The operator reports passage through peak heating and aerodynamic pressure with flap control.
Phase only
About T+01:06 · operator’s rounded duration
SpaceX describes three centre engines relighting, a flip and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Approximate; not a second-accurate endpoint
Showing 6 of 6 sources.
Operator account; onboard video and displayed telemetry share the operator’s measurement chain.
Summary inspected in browser; complete replay not frame-collated
Postflight summary · 6 June 2024; visible page reviewed 11 November 2026
Identifies the Flight 4 vehicle-configuration authorization history. A licence is not a raw trajectory measurement.
Historical revision table visually checked; later document, not the original Rev.3 instrument
May 2025 document · revision history PDF pp.2–3: Rev.3 entries dated 4 June 2024
Distinguishes near-orbital classification, the requested risk waiver and its timing; does not establish Flight 4’s detailed measured path.
Notice text reviewed
89 FR 88338 · issued 31 July 2024; published 7 November 2024 · Background and Near-Orbital Trajectory sections
Outside acoustic measurements reported through the International Monitoring System (IMS); event association and propagation still require a model.
Relevant slides inspected; published processed figures, not raw station waveforms
BGR · Infrasound Technology Workshop, 7 November 2024 · slides 12 and 21
Follow-up reading lead. Its abstract studies six later controlled re-entries and uses public telemetry in the association framework; it is not a second raw Flight 4 reconstruction performed by Babylon.
Abstract and version notice only; full analysis and supplement not reviewed here
Geophysical Journal International · accepted manuscript published 19 October 2026
Route to dated environmental and licensing materials; present proposals must not be projected backward onto Flight 4.
Public document collection located
Current catalogue reviewed 11 November 2026; documents have separate issue dates
FAA authorization, SpaceX’s cameras and outside pressure sensors address different claims. They are not three independent reconstructions of the entire flight. Multiple papers can reuse the same IMS recordings; a trajectory interpretation can also incorporate SpaceX telemetry. Those dependencies belong in the record.
Pilger and Hupe’s BGR presentation identifies Flight 4 re-entry detections at IS04, IS05, IS07 and IS40. Slide 21 shows processed pressure signals for IS04 and describes multiple propagation paths over distances of roughly 2,000–6,000 km.
Detailed processed example on slide 21
Raw waveform not obtained hereListed re-entry detection on slides 12 and 21
Raw waveform not obtained hereListed re-entry detection on slides 12 and 21
Raw waveform not obtained hereListed re-entry detection on slides 12 and 21
Raw waveform not obtained hereWhat this adds: published evidence from instruments outside the spacecraft’s telemetry chain. Associating a signal with a particular part of re-entry still needs source geometry, station clocks, atmospheric conditions and processing settings.
The four station labels are leads, not four raw datasets acquired by Babylon. We have not digitized the plots or reproduced the acoustic localization. Multiple arrivals can come from different propagation paths; they do not, by themselves, demonstrate a physical ceiling.
Change an illustrative source-to-receiver distance and an effective travel speed. This is a distance ÷ speed lesson, not a fitted Flight 4 arrival prediction.
Delay in minutes = distance in km × 1,000 ÷ speed in m/s ÷ 60.
Real sound paths bend as temperature and wind vary with height. Path length can differ from ground distance. The selected speed is an effective assumption, not a measured profile; this calculation cannot recover source altitude or flight trajectory.
Nikolova, Brown and Spiliopoulos’s October 2026 accepted manuscript describes moving-source infrasound analysis for six later controlled re-entries, using public telemetry as part of its association method. We reviewed its abstract only. Its full analysis and supplement remain reading leads, rather than an analysis reproduced on this page.
The booster’s reported 7 minutes 24 seconds and the ship’s roughly 66 minutes describe different branches. They are not competing durations for the same object.
The FAA notice says there would be no waiver decision before Flight 4; the request moved to Flight 5. The notice was issued after Flight 4. We must not use that later decision as Flight 4’s approval.
BGR’s slides identify multiple station detections. Babylon has not reproduced the signal processing or inferred a complete trajectory from these figures.
The mission page supports a reported sequence. Our review has not established public availability of the full calibration, uncertainty and raw telemetry files needed to reproduce the flight.
| Question | Apollo 11 study | Starship Flight 4 study |
|---|---|---|
| Mission | Crewed lunar journey and return | Uncrewed near-orbital test with two splashdowns |
| Outside instrument | Jodrell Bank radio chart; calibration still needed | BGR-reported IMS infrasound; raw waveforms and processing still needed |
| Entry evidence | Published reconstruction, EMS/ARIA inputs identified | Operator account and onboard views; complete public engineering package not located here |
| Radiation | Specific crew instrument records and dose summaries | This uncrewed flight does not establish a human radiation dose or lunar-journey safety |
| Repeatable next step | Acquire and reproduce reconstruction inputs | Align calibrated telemetry, outside recordings and dated atmospheric models |
Vehicle shape, material, speed, attitude and trajectory affect heating. A result for one vehicle cannot simply be assigned to the other. Both studies become stronger when a calculated prediction is tested against a separately recorded observation with uncertainty.
Research questions identified · no new SpaceX, FAA or infrasound-author email drafted or sent in this study.
Unlocated, restricted, proprietary, unavailable and destroyed are different statuses. We will record the institution’s documented answer before assigning one.
No raw Flight 4 telemetry or IMS waveforms are included. Events without extracted timestamps remain untimed. No unpublished engineering result, full orbit, Moon mission, crew radiation assessment or atmospheric ceiling is established by this case. Independent recordings and interpretations that incorporate operator telemetry are distinguished.
In Babylon, the Father’s light opens perspective, learning and a chosen next step. Your worth remains intact. Every person is sovereign, with dignity, freedom and room to grow.
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