SpaceX is gearing up for its fourth test flight of the Starship rocket, with CEO Elon Musk hinting at a launch date sometime next month. The company has officially announced a specific target date for the flight: Wednesday, June 5. However, this date is contingent upon regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has yet to publish the results of its investigation into SpaceX’s third Starship test flight, which took place in March.
The Starship rocket, standing at 120 meters tall, consists of two parts: the Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft. Generating an incredible 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, the Starship is the most powerful rocket ever to fly, and has the potential to send the first astronauts to Mars and eventually help establish a human settlement on the Red Planet. Before reaching Mars, the Starship will fly crew and cargo to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which will also involve multiple commercial partners for a string of lunar missions.
The Starship first flew in April last year, but exploded just minutes after launch. A second test flight in November also ended abruptly, although the vehicle managed to achieve stage separation when the spacecraft successfully disengaged from the booster. The most recent test, which took place in March, was by far the most successful of the three missions, reaching orbit for the first time.
Elon Musk (Via Elon Musk/Twitter)
The upcoming fourth flight will mark a significant milestone for SpaceX, as the company turns its focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse the Starship and Super Heavy. The primary objectives of the mission will be to carry out a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and to achieve a controlled entry of the Starship with the aim of splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
The flight will launch from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and will follow a similar trajectory to the previous three test flights. However, SpaceX is also planning to conduct Starship launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of plans to dramatically increase the flight frequency of its next-generation reusable rocket.
The announcement of the target date for the Starship test flight comes as SpaceX is making significant progress in its development of the next-generation rocket. The company has been conducting a series of static fires and other tests to prepare the Starship for its next major milestone. With the June 5 launch date potentially just around the corner, SpaceX is gearing up for a critical moment in its history, and is poised to take a major step towards making its vision for a human settlement on Mars a reality.
