SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is ready for a 3rd launch from the corporate’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 13, 2024.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch its third Starship test flight as soon as Thursday morning after federal regulators signed off on the attempt.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued SpaceX the launch license the corporate needed to fly its latest Starship prototype.
The FAA said SpaceX “met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements.”
SpaceX is targeting a launch window between 8 a.m. ET and 9:50 a.m. ET on Thursday. The corporate plans to livestream the launch, with a webcast starting half-hour before the window opens.
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The corporate goals to construct on the past 12 months’s Starship prototype flights, the second and most up-to-date of which reached space in November. The test flights have had mixed results, with each rockets flying for a number of minutes and achieving some milestones before ultimately being destroyed as a consequence of problems.
SpaceX and the FAA conducted an investigation into the November launch’s problems, leading to the corporate making changes to the monster rocket before the third attempt.
Moreover, SpaceX said it goals to exhibit recent capabilities with the third Starship flight, including opening and shutting the door of the spacecraft, transferring fuel through the flight in a NASA demonstration and splashing down within the Indian Ocean.
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