Thursday, SpaceX CEO and chief engineer Elon Musk, shared that the Starship rocket would not be flying on Friday but will be getting a fresh actuator in its Super Heavy booster. The need to replace this part will slide the launch back one day to Saturday and drop the two hour window to only 20 minutes.

週四，SpaceX 執行長兼總工程師馬斯克表示，星艦火箭不會在周五飛行，但將在其超重型助推器中安裝新的執行器。由於需要更換該零件，發射時間將推遲一天至週六，並將兩小時的時間縮短至僅 20 分鐘。

No that is not a typo

You read that right, Saturday’s Starship launch attempt window will only be 20 minutes long, giving SpaceX not a lot of time to troubleshoot any problems that may arise.

不，這不是拼字錯誤，你沒看錯，週六的星艦發射嘗試視窗只有 20 分鐘長，這讓 SpaceX 沒有太多時間來解決可能出現的任何問題。

SpaceX isn’t new to short windows, however. The company launches its Falcon 9 rocket weekly with almost near instantaneous launch windows. The difference this time is the Falcon 9 has launched over 80 times this year alone, while this will only be the second flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.

然而，SpaceX 對短窗口並不陌生。該公司每週都會發射獵鷹 9 號火箭，發射窗口幾乎是瞬時的。不同的是，這次獵鷹 9 號僅在今年就發射了 80 多次，而這只是 SpaceX 星艦火箭的第二次飛行。

The signs of a delay began when media down in South Texas for the launch witnessed destacking hardware being moved back to he orbital launch pad. Since this sort of equipment isn’t the kind you want left at a launch pad, the only thing it could mean was Ship 25 would have to come down.

當德州南部發射的媒體目睹拆卸硬體被移回軌道發射台時，延遲的跡象開始出現。由於這種設備不是您希望留在發射台上的那種設備，因此它唯一可能意味著 25 號船必須墜落。

Elon Musk confirmed the destack on his social media site X (formally Twitter). “We need to replace a grid fin actuator, so launch is postponed to Saturday,” Musk said.

伊隆馬斯克在他的社群媒體網站 X（以前的 Twitter）上證實了這一消息。 「我們需要更換網格鰭執行器，因此發射推遲到週六，」馬斯克說。

While the grid fins aren’t important for the launch of the vehicle, they are for landing the booster in the future. For the second Starship flight, SpaceX will only attempt to splash the booster down in the Gulf of Mexico but in future flights, the goal is to catch it using arms on the launch mount (yes seriously that is the plan).

雖然網格鰭對於飛行器的發射並不重要，但它們對於未來助推器的著陸至關重要。對於第二次星艦飛行，SpaceX 只會嘗試將助推器濺落到墨西哥灣，但在未來的飛行中，目標是使用發射架上的手臂抓住它（是的，認真地說，這就是計劃）。

An updated sound advisory, a requirement for SpaceX to do by local authorities, gave details into Saturday’s launch window. While it will open at the same time, 7:00 A.M. CT, the window will be cut back to only 20 minutes.

地方當局要求 SpaceX 發布一份更新後的健全公告，其中提供了周六發射窗口的詳細資訊。同時，上午 7:00 開放。 CT，窗口期將縮短至只有20分鐘。

This will require SpaceX to have a rather flawless countdown. Which is more likely this time than during the first launch back in April as teams have undergone numerous dress rehearsals in recent weeks.

這需要 SpaceX 進行相當完美的倒數計時。這次比四月首次發佈時更有可能，因為團隊在最近幾週進行了多次彩排。

Join our Discord Server: Join the community with forums and chatrooms about space!

加入我們的 Discord 伺服器：加入太空的論壇和聊天室社群！

What about further delays?

If SpaceX can’t get Starship off the pad one way or another Saturday, the company has a backup date on Sunday. Most likely SpaceX will have a window to launch daily if needed. At least until the end of next week where it gets murky with Thanksgiving and SpaceX may or may not have the ability to close the road.

如果進一步的延誤怎麼辦？如果 SpaceX 無法在周六將 Starship 發射出去，該公司將在周日安排備份日期。如果需要的話，SpaceX 很可能每天都會有一個發射視窗。至少在下週末感恩節到來之前，情況會變得陰暗，SpaceX 可能有能力關閉道路，也可能沒有能力。

From the TFR SpaceX was given by the FAA, the times line up that Sunday’s backup launch window will be 120 minutes. Giving the company much more time to problem solve anything that shows up in a rocket this early in development.

根據 FAA 給出的 TFR SpaceX 訊息，週日備用發射窗口的時間為 120 分鐘。讓公司有更多的時間來解決火箭開發早期出現的任何問題。

Now all this is assuming that what reasons SpaceX has to delay is something the company can resolve in 24 hours. Some issues might need more than a day to clear or weather could delay launches for multiple days.

現在所有這一切都假設 SpaceX 必須推遲的原因是該公司可以在 24 小時內解決的問題。有些問題可能需要一天以上的時間才能解決，或者天氣可能會導致發射延遲幾天。

For those that are joining us that haven’t followed many rocket launches in the past, welcome to the waiting and see game.

對於過去沒有關注過多次火箭發射的人來說，歡迎來到觀望遊戲。

Either way, SpaceX launch operations will begin very early in the morning. Road closures go into effect at midnight and fueling begins two hours before the launch even takes place. Don’t forget the potential hours of pre-fueling operations before that.

無論哪種方式，SpaceX 的發射操作都將在清晨開始。道路封閉在午夜生效，加油甚至在發射前兩小時就開始了。不要忘記在此之前預先加油操作的潛在時間。