Get Ready: SpaceX Starship's First Launch is for Real
upstart writes:
An unprecedented space event, and it's happening soon:
Elon Musk lost his claim as having the most powerful space-worthy rocket when NASA blasted its own mega rocket to the moon in November.
But the SpaceX founder could win back the title with his company's next big project. Starship, SpaceX's skyscraping rocket and spacecraft, will launch on its first mission soon. During the test flight, the colossal booster will separate about three minutes after liftoff and land in the Gulf of Mexico, according to federal filings. The ship will fly in space around Earth at an altitude of over 150 miles, then splash down off the Hawaiian coast.
This will be a crucial demonstration of hardware that NASA is depending on to get humans back on the moon in the next few years. And, if successful, it'll mean Musk is one small step closer to realizing his personal dream of building a city on Mars.
UPDATE: Apr. 9, 2023, 12:54 p.m. EDT SpaceX stacked Starship at the launch pad and plans to have a rehearsal this week, "followed by Starship's first integrated flight test." Musk tweeted April 9 that the company is ready to launch the rocket, pending approval of its Federal Aviation Administration license. A launch attempt this month is looking more and more plausible, with an FAA operational advisory plan indicating SpaceX is targeting Monday, April 17.
[...] Perhaps surprisingly, Starship won't lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where most space fans are accustomed to watching historically significant launches.
Instead, it will take off from Boca Chica, Texas, at SpaceX's own spaceport. Eventually, the company will launch the rocket from a site under construction in the outer perimeter of the famous Florida pad that shot Apollo 11 to the moon.
"Their plan is that they're going to do a few test flights there," in South Texas, Nelson said. "Once they have the confidence, they will bring the missions to the Cape."
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