SpaceX’s Starship rocket last flew at the end of May. Just over two weeks later, as it prepared for the 10th flight test, the upper-stage Starship spacecraft suddenly exploded on the ground at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas.
Not surprisingly, the setback delayed plans for the 10th flight test, but on Friday, SpaceX announced a target date for the highly anticipated event: Sunday, August 24, with a launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET).
The Starship, which comprises the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, is the most powerful rocket ever to fly, generating around 17 million pounds of thrust as it leaves the launchpad. NASA is planning to use the rocket for crew and cargo missions to the moon as part of the Artemis program, and even for the first crewed missions to Mars. But before then, SpaceX needs to fully prove the rocket’s capabilities and safety through continued refinement and testing.
In a post on its website on Friday, SpaceX said that its engineers have been spending the last few months making hardware and operational changes to increase the vehicle’s reliability.
Notably, the upcoming flight test will not see the upper-stage booster landing back at the launch tower as seen with some of the earlier flights. Instead, the 71-meter-tall booster will descend into the ocean, allowing SpaceX to test various controlled landing burns and recovery techniques without risking damage to the Starbase facilities.
SpaceX also said it will run several experiments focused on enabling the Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site in a future test.
“Flight tests continue to provide valuable learnings to inform the design of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles,” the company said on Friday. “With production ramping up inside Starfactory at Starbase alongside new launch and test infrastructure actively being built in Texas and Florida, Starship is poised to continue iterating towards a rapidly and fully reusable launch system.”
