SpaceX's Starship 7th Test Flight Now Slated For Monday

Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX said on Wednesday that it is preparing to launch its ambitious Starship launch vehicle on its seventh flight test as soon as Monday, Jan. 13.

What Happened: The launch window opens at 4:00 p.m. CT on Monday. However, the company warned that the schedule is also likely to change.

SpaceX has previously said that its Starship vehicle, currently undergoing testing and development, will launch from Starbase in Texas for its seventh flight test carrying 10 Starlink simulators which are similar in size and weight to the company’s next-generation Starlink satellites in a bid to demonstrate its capabilities in the satellite launch segment.

For the upcoming flight, SpaceX is looking to catch the two-stage vehicle's booster back at the launch pad at Starbase with the launch tower's metallic arms like on its fifth test flight in October. However, in case of any safety concerns, the company will splash it down in the Gulf of Mexico, it said.

The spacecraft, meanwhile, is slated to be splashed down in the Indian Ocean on the upcoming test.

While SpaceX has conducted 6 test flights of its ambitious launch vehicle to date, none of them carried any payload. The last test flight of Starship was in November.

Why It Matters: Starship is key to many big ambitions in the field of space exploration.

While NASA is looking forward to landing humans back on the surface of the Moon after a gap of over 50 years with the help of a custom version of the Starship, Musk dreams of taking humans to the planet Mars aboard the vehicle.

The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 with Apollo 17. Since then, no crew has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit.

In December, Musk pegged the seventh flight test of Starship for Jan. 10. However, earlier this week, Musk said the launch date has been pushed to next week. The CEO did not provide any reasons for the delay.

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Photo courtesy: SpaceX