Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship's Next Flight Test Now Slated For Wednesday Evening
On Tuesday, Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX said it is now targeting to launch Starship’s right flight test as soon as Wednesday.
What Happened: The launch window for the test flight will open at 5:30 p.m. CT.
The Starship was most recently expected to launch from Starbase, Texas on Monday. The company called it off merely seconds before liftoff as it experienced an issue with the vehicle.
"Too many question marks about this flight and then we were 20 bar low on ground spin start pressure. Best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two," Musk said about the decision to stand down from the launch.
Why It Matters: 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.
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 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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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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