SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its highly effective Tremendous Heavy rocket is ready for a 3rd launch from the corporate’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed check flight, close to Brownsville, Texas, on March 13, 2024.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is getting ready to launch its third Starship check flight as quickly as Thursday morning after federal regulators signed off on the try.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued SpaceX the launch license the corporate wanted to fly its newest Starship prototype.
The FAA stated SpaceX “met all security, environmental, coverage and monetary accountability necessities.”
SpaceX is focusing on a launch window between 8 a.m. ET and 9:50 a.m. ET on Thursday. The corporate plans to livestream the launch, with a webcast starting half-hour earlier than the window opens.
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The corporate goals to construct on the previous 12 months’s Starship prototype flights, the second and most up-to-date of which reached house in November. The check flights have had combined outcomes, with each rockets flying for a couple of minutes and attaining some milestones earlier than finally being destroyed as a consequence of issues.
SpaceX and the FAA performed an investigation into the November launch’s issues, ensuing within the firm making modifications to the monster rocket earlier than the third try.
Moreover, SpaceX stated it goals to reveal new capabilities with the third Starship flight, together with opening and shutting the door of the spacecraft, transferring gas through the flight in a NASA demonstration and splashing down within the Indian Ocean.