The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave Elon Musk‘s SpaceX the green light on Wednesday to launch its Starship for its next test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
What Happened: Starship is now slated to launch as soon as Monday.
For the upcoming test flight, SpaceX is eyeing Starship’s first payload deployment and experiments aimed at returning the upper stage of the two-stage vehicle to the launch site for catch. The company will also attempt to return and catch the vehicle’s Super Heavy booster, failing which it will have a soft splashdown in the Gulf of America.
SpaceX will attempt to deploy four Starlink simulators on its next flight, similar in size to the next generation of Starlink satellites.
Previous Flight Test: SpaceX last launched Starship on Jan. 16. The spacecraft lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 4:37 p.m. CT, and the vehicle booster landed back at the launch site after separation from its first stage.
The spacecraft, however, disintegrated in space during the flight test owing to a propellant leak. The FAA subsequently ordered an investigation into the incident following reports of public property damage in Turks and Caicos.
Why It Matters: The upcoming test flight would be Starship’s eighth to date and second this year. SpaceX started testing Starship in April 2023.
The Starship vehicle is part of big dreams. While NASA is looking forward to landing humans back on the surface of the Moon after a gap of over 50 years with the help of a custom version of Starship, Musk is dreaming of taking humans to the planet Mars aboard Starship. However, the vehicle is currently in the testing and development phase.
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