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Unleashing a record 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, the sight of SpaceX’s 120-meter-tall Starship rocket roaring skyward is something to behold.
The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company has already performed five Starship flights since the first one in April 2023, with each one increasingly successful. Comprising the upper-stage Starship spacecraft and the first-stage Super Heavy booster (collectively known as the Starship), NASA is planning to use the giant vehicle for crew and cargo missions to the moon, Mars, and possibly beyond.
SpaceX is aiming to perform the next test flight on Monday, November 18, and has laid out its plans for what to expect.
The exciting news is that after successfully “catching” the Super Heavy booster at the first attempt during the fifth test last month, SpaceX is planning to try the maneuver again using the same giant mechanical arms on the launch tower at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica.
“Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director,” SpaceX explained in a message on its website. “If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.”
It added: “We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only take place if conditions are right.”
It said that minutes after deploying the Starship spacecraft to orbit, the Super Heavy booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the landing zone.
Landing the booster in this way allows SpaceX to quickly refurbish it for subsequent flights, enabling it to conduct launches at a much lower cost. It’s already proved a similar landing system using its workhorse Falcon 9 vehicle, a less powerful rocket whose first stages have been flying multiple missions — and landing — for years.
As for the Starship’s upper stage, SpaceX plans to send it on the same suborbital trajectory as the fifth flight test, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. On a later flight, the company wants to catch the Starship, too, and so the upcoming flight will include a number of experiments and a slightly different flight profile to provide SpaceX engineers with useful data as it prepares for the challenging maneuver.
“Finally, adjusting the flight’s launch window to the late afternoon at Starbase will enable the ship to reenter over the Indian Ocean in daylight, providing better conditions for visual observations,” SpaceX said.
There’s plenty to look forward to. SpaceX will live-stream the sixth test flight on its social media channels on November 18. The schedule could change, so be sure to check back for updates.