SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded by Elon Musk, is gearing up for its third test flight of the Starship rocket. The company has a window between 8 a.m. ET to 9:50 a.m. ET to launch the mammoth vehicle from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. If weather or technical issues prevent a launch within that timeframe, SpaceX will reschedule for a later date. The weather for the launch is “70% favorable,” according to the company.
This test flight follows two previous launches in April and November of last year, both of which ended explosively. Despite these setbacks, SpaceX remains committed to developing the fully reusable Starship rocket and pushing the boundaries of space travel. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given clearance for this third launch attempt.
If everything goes according to plan, the Starship rocket will reach space, orbit halfway around the Earth, and then reenter the atmosphere before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. This ambitious project aims to revolutionize cargo and human travel beyond Earth and is crucial to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX secured a multi-billion dollar contract from NASA to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of the Artemis moon program.
One notable aspect of SpaceX’s approach is its emphasis on learning from previous flights and applying those lessons to improve future iterations of the rocket. The company describes this strategy as “recursive improvement,” where even failed test flights contribute to progress. Elon Musk has stated that SpaceX expects to spend around $2 billion on Starship development in 2023.
The Starship rocket is a technological marvel, standing at an impressive 397 feet tall and boasting a diameter of about 30 feet. When fully stacked on top of the Super Heavy booster, it becomes both the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. The Super Heavy booster, which measures 232 feet tall, kickstarts the rocket’s journey to space with its 33 Raptor engines generating a staggering 16.7 million pounds of thrust.
Starship itself stands at 165 feet tall and is equipped with six Raptor engines. Three engines are used while in the Earth’s atmosphere, and the other three are for operating in the vacuum of space. The rocket relies on liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellants, requiring over 10 million pounds of propellant for launch.
For this third test flight, there won’t be any crew members aboard the Starship. SpaceX plans to conduct hundreds of missions before human space travel is attempted. The company aims to achieve several milestones during this flight, including opening and closing the spacecraft’s door in space, which will be crucial for deploying payloads like satellites on future missions. Additionally, SpaceX plans to demonstrate fuel transfer during flight in a NASA demonstration and relight the Starship’s engines while in space.
As SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, this third Starship test flight represents another step towards realizing Elon Musk’s vision of making interplanetary travel a reality. With each launch, SpaceX learns valuable lessons and makes improvements to its rocket technology. The world eagerly awaits the outcome of this latest mission, hoping for a successful flight that propels us closer to a future where humans can boldly venture beyond Earth’s borders.
