Elon Musk reveals target date for next Starship launch
But SpaceX chief Elon Musk has now revealed that his team expects to fly the Starship — comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft — in about three weeks' time.
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The huge explosion at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, took everyone by surprise, and fortunately no one was killed or injured in the massive fireball.
A few days after it happened, SpaceX said the explosion occurred as the team was loading cryogenic propellant onto the spacecraft in preparation for a six-engine static fire test 'when a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand.'
SpaceX said that its preliminary investigation indicated 'the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship's nosecone area,' though it has yet to publish a full data review, which should contain more details about what actually happened.
The Starship program is certainly no stranger to large explosions and disintegrations, but they usually occur in midair, well after the rocket has left the launchpad.
The first Starship flight test took place in April 2023. During the early part of the ascent, multiple Raptor engines failed on the Super Heavy booster. When stage separation failed to occur, the vehicle began to spin and was intentionally destroyed by the flight termination system about four minutes after launch at an altitude of 24.2 miles (39 km).
The following eight flights have produced mixed results — while the team has managed to land the Super Heavy back at base in what is an extraordinary maneuver, the upper-stage spacecraft has suffered some rougher rides in recent flights.
Still, SpaceX seems pretty happy with the flight tests overall, and is using the data gathered from each one to try to improve the design and performance of the vehicle.
Once fully operational, the Starship will be used for crew and cargo missions to the lunar surface, with crewed missions to Mars also on the cards.
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