Re: Flawed
You;re right about the Starship booster only doing engine tests. Starship itself has flown and landed multiple times. You're also right about the launchpad and a probably re-design if it's to cope with a proper launch. They can build rockets but can't yet pour concrete to survive the heat and pressure.
On the other hand, SLS has been in development a lot, lot longer and has only just achieved it's first launch and NASA already has those skills and facilities that SpaceX are still learning. Mind you, it's an impressive launch, all the way to the Moon and hopefully back to a successful, if very quick, reentry. I hope they got their sums right on the heat shield.
I strongly suspect the first Starship launch will, at the most, be to orbit. The SpaceX track record so far doesn't indicate that they will go for a full size mission on a first launch. But I also expect SpaceX to move quickly once they are ready for a full stack launch and to repeat and improve quickly too, probably with some spectacular failures along the way.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
