Claims

Promise · Their own work or organisation

“Possible Starship flight tomorrow afternoon”

Elon Musk, posting on X · 28 March 2021 · Post by @elonmusk on X, 2021-03-28 (X)

SpaceX may fly a Starship on the afternoon of 29 March 2021.

Mostly false False in substance, right in a detail.

What would count as true or false

True: a Starship prototype (for example SN11) made its flight from Boca Chica on the afternoon of 29 March 2021, local time. Mostly false: no flight happened that afternoon but a real attempt was made that day (a countdown or launch window that was scrubbed), or the flight happened on a later day. False: there was no flight and no attempt on 29 March 2021, with the flight happening much later or not at all.

Evidence

1. SpaceX launches Starship SN11 rocket prototype, but misses landing Space.com · 30 March 2021

   “The flight, which was the company's second flight test of a Starship rocket this month, was originally planned for Monday afternoon, but was pushed back when an inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could not make it to Boca Chica in time for the launch.”

2. SpaceX’s next Starship test flight delayed to Tuesday Spaceflight Now · 26 March 2021

   “Musk tweeted again Monday that a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, presumably filling a safety and oversight role, was unable to reach the Starship facility in South Texas. He wrote that the test flight was postpone to no earlier than Tuesday.”

3. SpaceX prototype explodes amid more Musk - FAA drama in South Texas Houston Chronicle · 30 March 2021

   “This pushed the SN11 flight from Monday to Tuesday.”

4. SpaceX Launches Starship SN11 Rocket Prototype, but Misses Landing Scientific American · 30 March 2021

   “BOCA CHICA, Tx.—SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype, SN11, took to the skies over Texas on Tuesday morning (March 30), following a 24-hour delay.”

Reasoning

E1 reports that the SN11 flight was planned for Monday afternoon, 29 March 2021, but was pushed back because an FAA inspector could not reach Boca Chica in time; E3 reports that the flight moved from Monday to Tuesday. E4 confirms that SN11 flew on Tuesday morning, 30 March, after a 24-hour delay. No flight took place on the afternoon of 29 March, but the flight happened one day later. The criteria classify that outcome as mostly false.

Cite this claim

Elon Musk, “SpaceX may fly a Starship on the afternoon of 29 March 2021.” (said 28 March 2021). Verdict: mostly false. Reliability API, claim c_9567cc9ef12e, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_9567cc9ef12e