1. At step 4 for Starship, they write "Once S28 has reached orbital velocity..." Not trajectory. Not orbit.
2. At step 8, we have the "relight demo". Note the last sentence, the one in parentheses: "for an actual deorbit burn, the ship would need to yaw 180º first".
So there is no deorbit burn in the flight plan. The relight demo was just supposed to show that they could relight, and thus hopefully could do a deorbit burn. Note also that the ship deorbited despite the fact that there was no relight demo (never mind no deorbit burn).
Orbital velocity = orbital speed + orbital trajectory. Velocity is a vector. Orbital velocity + orbital altitude means orbit. That is, unless you think that everyone at SpaceX misspoke and they were only aiming for orbital speed (which they did not achieve with IFT3), and just wanted that speed in any direction.
Sounds like the plan to de-orbit was then to just go belly forward and let drag take you out of orbit. That is pretty much how every object in LEO de-orbits.
The trajectory of the actual flight was suborbital, but the planned trajectory of the flight involved burning all the way to orbital insertion (hence the "orbital velocity" being on the flight plan). Once again, velocity is a vector, and "orbital velocity" means "a heading and speed suitable for orbit."
By the way, I agree that they never intended to complete an orbit, just that they intended to get into (and promptly out of) an orbit. IFT4 did that, for example.
After IFT3 failed to achieve orbital insertion (probably because a leak caused it to run out early), SpaceX announced that not only was the plan to not get to an orbit, but also that they had achieved orbital velocity. They claimed both things!
Both of those claims seem to be lies, and it is also logically inconsistent to claim that you never wanted to reach orbital velocity and also that you got there.
You are overlooking the easier explanation: they used "velocity" in the more colloquial sense meaning speed, not in the vector sense. Suddenly everything is logically consistent.
And everything matches what they said, what they filled with FAA prior to the fight, etc.
> Read the IFT-3 pre-flight materials
I did.
> They clearly intended to enter an orbital trajectory and then get out of it
Nope, they very clearly did not.
Even the graphic you linked to earlier shows this very clearly.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi...
1. At step 4 for Starship, they write "Once S28 has reached orbital velocity..." Not trajectory. Not orbit.
2. At step 8, we have the "relight demo". Note the last sentence, the one in parentheses: "for an actual deorbit burn, the ship would need to yaw 180º first".
So there is no deorbit burn in the flight plan. The relight demo was just supposed to show that they could relight, and thus hopefully could do a deorbit burn. Note also that the ship deorbited despite the fact that there was no relight demo (never mind no deorbit burn).