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Elon Musk confirms target window for next Starship launch

The mighty Starship rocket is undergoing preflight testing and is on course to launch soon.

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The Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines powering the Starship's launch on November 19, 2024.
The Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines powering the Starship's sixth launch on November 19, 2024. SpaceX

If you’re wondering what happened to the Starship, then rest assured, SpaceX engineers are still working to get it airborne again soon.

In fact, in a post on X on Saturday, SpaceX chief Elon Musk confirmed an earlier stated target window for the 12th launch of the most powerful rocket: next month.

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In that case, the Starship could be blasting off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in near Boca Chica, Texas, in a matter of weeks, treating onlookers and those watching online to a spectacular display of raw rocket power.

The 12th Starship flight is particularly special because it involves a new version — the third — of the first-stage Super Heavy booster, which lifts the upper-stage Ship to space.

Version 3 of the Starship rocket is 124.4 meters tall, making it just over a meter taller than its predecessor. Its engines have also been given a power upgrade, together with a number of design tweaks that will improve the rocket’s overall performance.

This year promises to be an exciting one for the Starship as SpaceX is heavily focused on getting it ready for a trip to the moon in the Artemis III mission.

First, it needs to achieve a number of important milestones, including getting the Ship to orbit, refueling the Ship in Earth orbit, and then landing it back at Boca Chica in a similar way to how it’s already landed the Super Heavy booster.

The Artemis III mission is currently set for 2027, though that date could slip due to technical challenges with the rocket. NASA wants to use a modified version of the Ship to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in what would be the first crewed moon landing since 1972.

The astronauts won’t travel to lunar orbit aboard the Ship, flying instead aboard an Orion spacecraft launched by NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Once in lunar orbit, they’ll transfer to SpaceX’s Ship and descend to the lunar surface.

The same Orion spacecraft is about to carry its first crew on a voyage around the moon in the Artemis II mission, which will pave the way for the Artemis III lunar landing in a few years’ time.

Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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