SpaceX’s Starship has a schedule of ministers. Planned on many missions over the next several years, it is still in development near Boca Chica in Texas. Grounded for months by the FAA, the American aviation federation, Elon Musk has just announced that he could return to duty.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the Pretoria businessman says that Starship is ready to fly. He even announces that his ship will go into orbit “next month or in November.” A small phrase that has not gone unnoticed since the task seems complicated.
The last flight of the ship. dates back to May 5, 2021. By this time, Starship had managed to fly up to 5 kilometers in altitude before falling back to Earth without exploding. Since then, SpaceX has been working on the launcher that should be able to put Starship into orbit.
Called the Super Heavy Booster, it is a very complex object and has just been demoed on the ground of the first floor. For the first time, seven predatory engines fired at the same time, with a deafening roar. In its final version, Super Heavy should be able to support 33 engines on the main stage.
The FAA has yet to give SpaceX the green light.
But technical problems are far from the only obstacles to the project. The FAA is always in the spotlight. The administration gave SpaceX temporary approval in June, but the company needed to make 75 changes to get the federation’s go-ahead.
At the moment, it is impossible to know if everything returns to normal on this side. If so, then a robbery could very well happen in November. super heavy and Starship would then take to the air together. The launcher would rest on a modified oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, while the spacecraft would go into orbit around Earth before backing up and emptying into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii.
A crucial first flight to get back on time
If this first flight takes place, it will allow SpaceX engineers to pack a punch. The success of such a mission will put the project back on track. NASA needs this test flight to confirm the use of the SpaceX spacecraft as a lander on the Moon during the Artemis 3 mission, still scheduled for the summer of 2025.
This mission with NASA would be a huge advertisement for SpaceX and Elon Musk. The businessman would inscribe his name forever in history. He could also see farther and reach their real goal: Mars.