The next test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket could take place as early as next week.
SpaceX is aiming for its third flight test of Starship on March 14, and according to a post on the company's quietly released X (formerly Twitter), the company announced a live broadcast of the launch. Starship is somewhat confusingly made up of two parts: the stainless steel reusable upper stage, also known as Starship, and its super-heavy first-stage booster. Together, the two are over 400 feet tall (122 meters).
The company recently conducted a critical fuel test at its Starbase plant near Boca Chica, Texas, in March. During the tests, more than 10 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen were pumped into the rocket. "Starship 3 is ready for launch," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in an article on X, along with a refueling test. You can find this in spacecom **test, when the time is ready, provided by SpaceX.
Starship and Super He**Y are designed to be fully reusable. Together, they are the most powerful rockets in the world, capable of launching rockets up to 165 tons (150 metric tons) into orbit.
NASA has chosen Starship to send astronauts to the moon on the upcoming Artemis 3 mission, which is scheduled no earlier than 2026. But before that, Starship still has some hurdles to clear. First of all, it needs to reach the orbit first. In the first two test flights of the rocket, one in April 2023 and the other in November 2023, Starship failed to do so.
SpaceX's towering Starship 3 rocket and Super Heavy booster were on the launch pad overnight for fuel testing at the company's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. （*spacex）
During the first test flight, the Starship failed to separate from the first stage booster and began to roll. SpaceX detonated the rocket less than four minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX's Starship**, which ended its first test flight on April 20, 2023 (Patrick T.). fallon/afp via getty images）
During the second test flight, Starship successfully separated from Super He**Y at about 2 minutes and 40 seconds of flight, but Super He**Y was in a massive aerial ** shortly after.
On November 18, 2023, SpaceX's giant Starship Super Heavy booster after it separated from its upper stage during the company's second flight test**. spacex）
After the second test flight, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified 17 corrective actions to be taken by SpaceX before the next flight: 10 for Starship and 7 for Super Heavy boosters.
According to a Feb. 26 statement, SpaceX has completed the work, noting that the company has "implemented hardware changes to the upcoming Starship vehicle to improve leak reduction, fire protection, and fine operations related to propellant vents to improve reliability."
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