Ship lights while it is still on Super Heavy. The stack never coasts. That is the whole point — and why the ring looks like it is on fire. Toggle cold staging to see the wait hot staging refuses to take.
Flight 218 Nov 2023 · first hot-stage. First water deluge. Both vehicles were then lost.
Flight 14MECO at T+2:20. Hot-stage at T+2:22. Official SpaceX timeline.
Block 3First Block 3 hot-stage on Flight 12, ~T+2:30. Same family through Flight 14.
Ascent
F14 · before MECO
Thirty-three Super Heavy Raptors are doing the work. Ship is still a passenger.
No coast
Cold staging cuts the booster, waits, then lights the upper stage. Hot staging never drops the thrust. For a stack this heavy, that wait is expensive in gravity loss and attitude propellant.
More payload
Continuous acceleration is SpaceX’s published reason. We do not invent a kilogram number. The ring exists because the payload argument won.
The hardware cost
The ring has to survive Ship lighting in the booster’s plume. Flight 2 proved the staging (~T+2:49) and then lost both vehicles. Later flights kept the idea and made the ring live.
F2 · 18 Nov 2023
First hot-stage. First deluge. Staging paid off; both vehicles died afterwards.
F3 · 14 Mar 2024
First Starship to space. Staging held.
F12
First Block 3 hot-stage, ~T+2:30.
F14
Hot-stage on time at T+2:22 after MECO at T+2:20.
Official footage
Starship’s Second Flight Test — official SpaceX recap, first hot-stage. Same film the flight lab uses. Click to load.
The booster flies back to the tower it left. Chopsticks close on the pins. Flight 5 proved it. Everything since is the same geometry, faster. A miss still prefers splash to a tower strike.
Flight 513 Oct 2024 · B12 · first Super Heavy catch, ~T+6:56. No engine failures on the way up.
DivertIf the approach is off, SpaceX sends it to a controlled splashdown. Missing is allowed.
Flight 15First serious attempt to catch a Ship. Same chopsticks, harder timing. NET 8 Nov.
Liftoff
T+0
The chopsticks that will catch it later have just released the stack.
No legs
Landing legs are mass you fly, then a pad you pour. A catch spends that mass once, in Mechazilla, and every booster reuses it.
Catch or splash
Flight 11’s booster did a controlled splash, not a catch. Divert is a success mode when the approach is off. A bad tower hit is not.
Ship is next
Flight 15 is the first serious attempt to catch a Ship (S42 on the Pad 2 tower). SpaceX has not confirmed it as the plan of record.
Official footage
Official SpaceX footage of the first Super Heavy catch (Flight 5). Already on this site.
Starship’s Fifth Flight Test — official SpaceX recap. Same film the flight lab uses. Click to load.
Same brand, three stacks. US HW4 has Collision Evasion. HW3 is on Lite. Europe is still Assisted Driving Basic on 14.2. Pick two stacks. Then open Collision Evasion for the HW4-only note.
SAE Level 2. The driver must supervise. Europe lists the same idea as Tesla Assisted Driving. Not Tesla’s official comparison.
Official footage
Official @Tesla footage, FSD (Supervised) on US streets. Already on this site. Supervised — not a hands-off demo, and not a Collision Evasion clip.
It is not a separate Autopilot. On HW4 in North America, the car can switch Supervised FSD back on to try to avoid an imminent frontal crash, or if FSD looks like it was dropped by mistake. Toggle HW3 or Europe to see the step that does not exist there.
Still SAE Level 2. The driver still has to supervise. This is not unsupervised Robotaxi.
What it isHW4 can re-engage Supervised FSD for an imminent frontal crash, or an unintentional FSD drop.
WhereNorth America, 14.3.11 and 14.3.12. Not on HW3 Lite. Not on Europe 14.2.
What it is notThe notes say frontal. We do not invent side or rear coverage, or a hands-off guardian.
FSD on
HW4 NA · 14.3
City or highway, SAE Level 2. You are still the driver.
HW4 in North America (14.3.11 / 14.3.12) can re-engage Supervised FSD for an imminent frontal crash, or an unintentional drop.
HW4, North America
14.3.11 and 14.3.12. Tesla’s notes: if you look away or FSD drops by mistake, the car can re-engage Supervised FSD to try to stay out of a crash, then keep going.
HW3 Lite
Distilled from the HW4 model for parking, unparking and start-from-park. Tesla is not promising HW3 the full HW4 stack. No Collision Evasion.
Europe 14.2
Assisted Driving Basic on 2026.33.100. Same week as US 14.3.11, still on 14.2. Collision Evasion is North America only.
Sourced from the software tracker and My Tesla feature notes. Official Tesla street footage on the FSD stacks piece is not an evasion demo.