SpaceX's 1st Starship test flight since going public is set to launch

 

When SpaceX launches the world’s most powerful rocket on Thursday, it will be the first test flight since the aerospace giant became a publicly traded company in June.

The flight, launching from the company's Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas, will be the 13th for the Starship program and the second flight of Version 3 of the spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.

The launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. ET and the company has 90 minutes to get the rocket off the pad. As with all launches, weather concerns or technical issues could delay or postpone the mission.

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A lot is riding on the success of SpaceX's Starship program. NASA wants to use a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to put astronauts on the lunar surface and plans to begin testing it as early as next year during the Artemis III mission. And SpaceX is counting on Starship to rapidly build out its Starlink network, develop data centers in space, and eventually take people to Mars.  

And since the company went public, any potential problems with the mission could not only delay the company’s ambitious timeline for Starship but also impact its stock price. 

When SpaceX launches the world’s most powerful rocket on Thursday, it will be the first test flight since the aerospace giant became a publicly traded company in June.

The flight, launching from the company's Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas, will be the 13th for the Starship program and the second flight of Version 3 of the spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.

The launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. ET and the company has 90 minutes to get the rocket off the pad. As with all launches, weather concerns or technical issues could delay or postpone the mission.

Related

SpaceX soars after trading begins in largest IPO of all time

A lot is riding on the success of SpaceX's Starship program. NASA wants to use a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to put astronauts on the lunar surface and plans to begin testing it as early as next year during the Artemis III mission. And SpaceX is counting on Starship to rapidly build out its Starlink network, develop data centers in space, and eventually take people to Mars.  

And since the company went public, any potential problems with the mission could not only delay the company’s ambitious timeline for Starship but also impact its stock price. 

When SpaceX launches the world’s most powerful rocket on Thursday, it will be the first test flight since the aerospace giant became a publicly traded company in June.

The flight, launching from the company's Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas, will be the 13th for the Starship program and the second flight of Version 3 of the spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.

The launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. ET and the company has 90 minutes to get the rocket off the pad. As with all launches, weather concerns or technical issues could delay or postpone the mission.

Related

SpaceX soars after trading begins in largest IPO of all time

A lot is riding on the success of SpaceX's Starship program. NASA wants to use a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to put astronauts on the lunar surface and plans to begin testing it as early as next year during the Artemis III mission. And SpaceX is counting on Starship to rapidly build out its Starlink network, develop data centers in space, and eventually take people to Mars.  

And since the company went public, any potential problems with the mission could not only delay the company’s ambitious timeline for Starship but also impact its stock price. 

When SpaceX launches the world’s most powerful rocket on Thursday, it will be the first test flight since the aerospace giant became a publicly traded company in June.

The flight, launching from the company's Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas, will be the 13th for the Starship program and the second flight of Version 3 of the spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.

The launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. ET and the company has 90 minutes to get the rocket off the pad. As with all launches, weather concerns or technical issues could delay or postpone the mission.

Related

SpaceX soars after trading begins in largest IPO of all time

A lot is riding on the success of SpaceX's Starship program. NASA wants to use a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to put astronauts on the lunar surface and plans to begin testing it as early as next year during the Artemis III mission. And SpaceX is counting on Starship to rapidly build out its Starlink network, develop data centers in space, and eventually take people to Mars.  

And since the company went public, any potential problems with the mission could not only delay the company’s ambitious timeline for Starship but also impact its stock price. 

In a company video about Starship's development released before flight test 12, Charlie Cox, the director of Starship Engineering, said the latest version has been completely redesigned.

"This rocket is unlike anything anybody's ever done before. Version 3 is basically a clean-sheet design of the ship. We essentially took a bunch of lessons from version one, version two, and we took a step back and said, what were the things that were really problematic, either from a performance perspective or from a reliability perspective on the previous rockets and then we directly address those with a variety of new designs," Cox said.

Like the last mission, flight test 13 will not attempt to reach orbit, but will remain suborbital as the spacecraft travels from its home in Texas over the Gulf, past the Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The booster will splash down in the Gulf.

"The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time," said SpaceX on the upcoming mission page of its website.

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SpaceX says Starship will deploy 20 of the next-generation Starlink satellites. The company will attempt to connect the satellites to the larger Starlink network via high-capacity lasers to verify compatibility with the system. Six of the satellites are being equipped with cameras to scan the spacecraft's heat shield and send images back to mission control for analysis. But because they will travel on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, the satellites won't join the operational network as they are expected to burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes after deployment.

The Super Heavy booster is set to make a controlled descent and splashdown in the Gulf, while Starship is anticipated to make a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. As on previous flights, Starship is expected to tip over and explode shortly after splashdown, a routine outcome that does not indicate a problem with the test, as the vehicle was not designed to land in the water.

SpaceX plans to eventually return both the booster and the spacecraft to the launch site, where they will be caught by the tower's robotic "chopstick" arms. It has pulled off the booster catch several times, beginning on flight 5, but has yet to attempt catching a returning spacecraft.

While investors will undoubtedly be paying close attention to Thursday's flight, the company is confident that this version of Starship is the one that will help it realize its ultimate goal of making humanity a multiplanetary species.

"It can go up to orbit. It can stay on orbit for 48 hours. It can meet up with other ships, and it can do propellant transfers, which is really the core technology that you need to unlock Starship. Once you unlock that capability, the whole solar system is on your doorstep," said Cox in the video released by SpaceX.