SpaceX Delays Starship's 4th Flight Test: Here's When The Launch Is Scheduled Now

Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company, SpaceX, is preparing to launch its Starship as soon as June 6, a day later than its previous timeline.

What Happened: SpaceX is yet to receive regulatory approval for Starship's fourth flight test. However, if approved, the Starship could launch on June 6, with the launch window opening as early as 7 a.m. CT.

SpaceX had previously pegged the fourth flight test of the Starship for June 5.

Starship is touted as the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, standing 121 meters tall and weighing approximately 5,000 tonnes. It consists of two stages: the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket.

For the upcoming test, the company aims to achieve a soft splashdown of the Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico and a controlled re-entry and splashdown of the Starship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX has implemented software and hardware upgrades to Starship since its last flight test to meet these objectives.

Why It Matters: During Starship's previous flight test on March 14, the spacecraft lost contact and broke apart while re-entering the atmosphere instead of splashing down in the Indian Ocean as planned. The booster also lost contact before achieving a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The entire flight lasted about an hour.

SpaceX launched the Starship twice last year — first in April and then in November.

NASA is currently relying on the success of Starship to land humans back on the moon as part of its Artemis program. The last crewed lunar mission occurred in 1972 with Apollo 17. Since then, no crew has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit.

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