Livestream announced: Starship giant rocket to lift off on Thursday afternoon
The next launch attempt of the world's largest rocket is imminent. Following FAA approval, the launch is due this Thursday and a live stream is planned.
Das Starship wartet
(Image: SpaceX)
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the next test flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, which the US space company now plans to launch a day later than announced, from 2 p.m. CEST tomorrow, Thursday. A two-hour launch window will then open, and a live stream will be available on the company's own website and on the short message service X. As with all test flights, however, the schedule is open to changes at short notice, the company explains. If everything goes according to plan, the main stage of the giant rocket will be separated from the spacecraft after the launch and "gently" splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. As with the third test flight, the Starship itself is to reach space and, after a flight over Africa, be brought down in the Indian Ocean. As with the previous flight, impressive live images are once again expected, which will be made possible by the Starlink satellite internet
Enormous speed in rocket development
Everything went smoothly on the third test flight until the main stage was to fly to its landing site after separation. Half of the engines activated for this purpose stopped working prematurely, probably due to blocked filters. In addition, the spacecraft flying in space soon lost control of its orientation and spun around itself in an unplanned manner. According to SpaceX, this was probably due to clogged valves. On re-entry into the atmosphere, the spacecraft therefore became significantly hotter than expected - contact was lost around 49 minutes after launch. Despite these problems, the third test flight was an enormous success. Less than five years after the rocket was first unveiled, the spacecraft, known only as "Ship", did not reach orbit, but did travel for around half an hour at an altitude of more than 200 km at over 26,000 km/h.
The Starship consists of the approximately 70 m long Super Heavy booster and the approximately 50 m long upper stage. The world's largest rocket is designed in such a way that the spacecraft and rocket can be reused after returning to earth. The rocket is intended to take astronauts to the moon for NASA. However, SpaceX hopes to reach Mars one day. In April 2023, a complete Starship took off for the first time, but only remained intact for a few minutes. On November 18, the second launch attempt was successful before the rocket also exploded. The third test flight then succeeded in mid-March and lasted significantly longer. SpaceX has actually announced nine launch attempts for this year, but this is unlikely to be possible. Nevertheless, the speed at which the rocket is being improved and tested remains impressive. NASA's moon rocket, for example, has only flown once. At the US space agency, however, an exploding rocket would certainly not be as acclaimed as it would be at SpaceX and by company boss Elon Musk.
(mho)