Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX, on Wednesday, received the green light for its third test flight of Starship.
What Happened: After the Federal Aviation Administration approved the upcoming flight, SpaceX confirmed that they are targeting to launch Starship on Thursday, March 14. The 110-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT.
Starship flight 3 “maybe” tomorrow, Musk wrote on X, likely guarding against possible timeline changes in case of adverse weather conditions.
For the third flight, SpaceX aims to get Starship to space while achieving several technical objectives en route. The spacecraft will then re-enter Earth with a splashdown expected in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX launched the Starship twice before- the first time in April and then in November. In the latest flight attempt, the spacecraft reached space, making it the first starship to do so. The vehicle was, however, destroyed after it lost contact with SpaceX base.
Why It Matters: The rocket-making company touts the Starship as the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, Moon, and Mars. It can supposedly carry up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights.
NASA is currently relying on the success of Starship to land humans back on the moon. The agency expects to land two astronauts on the Moon no earlier than September 2026 in the Artemis III mission with a lunar lander variant of the Starship.
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.
The company CEO on Tuesday confirmed that the company is eyeing nine launches for the Starship this year.
Image: Created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Official SpaceX Photos on Flickr
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