SpaceX has been given the green light by U.S. regulators to make their third orbital launch attempt for the monumental Starship rocket. The ambitious launch is scheduled for the early hours of Thursday morning.
The team at SpaceX has set a strict 110-minute window starting at 7:00 a.m. CT to complete the launch from their Starbase campus near Boca Chica, Texas. The thrilling event will be broadcasted live on both their website and the popular social media platform, X, starting at 6:30 a.m. CT.
The Starship rocket has already undergone two successful test flights, the first of which took place in April of last year. Unfortunately, the launch ended in both the upper stage, also known as Starship, and the Super Heavy booster exploding mid-air. The second attempt also met a similar fate, with the destruction of the vehicle.
These occurrences are commonly referred to as “anomalies” in the rocket industry, a term used to describe anything from small component malfunctions to catastrophic explosions, like in the case of the Starship launches. Whenever an anomaly happens during a launch, the Federal Aviation Administration takes charge, overseeing an investigation run by the company. The investigation for the second Starship launch was concluded last month, leaving only the issuing of a launch license by the regulator.
During the investigation, SpaceX made several changes and upgrades to the hardware and adopted an iterative approach to its design process.
This upcoming test is a significant milestone for the company, with the goal of showcasing new capabilities such as a fuel transfer demonstration, the opening and closing of the upper stage’s payload door, and igniting a Raptor engine in space for the first time. As a result of the in-space engine burn, a new flight trajectory has been targeted, with the upper stage splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
The Starship rocket plays a vital role in both SpaceX’s business plans and NASA’s ambitious Artemis program. With the goal of returning humans to the moon by the end of the decade, this test marks a crucial step forward in achieving this monumental feat.
