SpaceX finally received permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct a second test flight of the aircraft. Starship. Elon Musk’s company has already set a date and time for the new launch window, which will take place this week.
The aerospace company aims to complete Starship’s takeoff tomorrow. Friday, November 17for two hours, which will begin at 07:00 US Central Time. Of course, its completion will depend on weather conditions and the absence of technical failures during the preliminary review.
The FAA announced approval for a second Starship launch via statement posted on X (Twitter). In it, the organization indicated that SpaceX complies with “all safety, environmental, and political and financial responsibility requirements.”
With this confirmation, a period of several months of uncertainty for Musk’s team ends. In September, the FAA itself warned that Starship would not fly again until SpaceX fixed dozens of critical problems that affected more than just its namesake ship and rocket. Super Heavybut also to the launch pad.
Will Starship reach Earth orbit on its second try?
After the first attempt ended in an explosion after a failure in the ship-rocket decoupling, Elon Musk expected more than 1,000 changes to be made on the second test flight. Among the most important are the introduction of the Starship’s hot exhaust system and new electric thrust vector control instead of the original hydraulic one.
In addition, the tycoon explained that the launch platform was strengthened to prevent it from being destroyed again by the super-heavy rocket’s Raptor engines. For this they turned 1000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete, with two water-cooled steel plates on top. According to the businessman, this solution was designed to look like a giant shower head placed upside down.
There are high hopes for what SpaceX will achieve on Starship’s second flight. Despite the large number of changes made, Musk was very cautious in assessing the success of the mission. “I think the likelihood that the next launch will work and get into orbit is much higher than the previous one. Maybe it’s about 60%.. “It depends on how well we handle the separation of the stages,” he said in June.
For now, it seems like everything is in place for Starship to return to the ring. The ship and Super Heavy rocket are already on the platform at Boca Chica, Texas, awaiting a new launch. SpaceX will broadcast the event via its website and on the company’s X (Twitter) profile.
As we indicated at the outset, the window for Starship’s takeoff will open at 07:00 US Central Time. Below are the times when it can be seen from different parts of the world:
- Spain: 14:00.
- Argentina: 10:00 o’clock.
- Mexico: 07:00 hours.
- Colombia: 08:00 hours.
Source: Hiper Textual
