SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that Starship could launch next month if the rest of the test goes well. The launch will determine whether the reusable spacecraft can carry crews on missions to the Moon.
Elon Musk said on Saturday that SpaceX was planning to attempt to launch its reusable Starship rocket into orbit in March if remaining tests go well.
The SpaceX CEO’s comments came in response to a Twitter user who asked whether Starship is almost ready for launch. SpaceX aims to demonstrate with the launch that Starship can carry crews on missions with NASA to “Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond,” its website states.
NASA awarded SpaceX with a contract worth close to $3 billion in 2021 to build a commercial manned lander for Starship to land humans on the Moon as part of its Artemis program. Two crewed missions to the Moon, Artemis 3 and 4, are expected to launch in 2025 and 2027.
Elon Musk previously teased in January that it would attempt to launch “soon” and indicated it could be as late as February or March. The Starship test flight will launch from the Starbase spaceport site in Boca Chica, Texas, federal filings show. According to the filing, its rocket booster will land at the Super Heavy Starbase or the Gulf of Mexico, while Starship will land in the Pacific Ocean.
SpaceX has yet to officially announce its Starship launch date and did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
A prototype test for the Super Heavy failed last July at the Boca Chica test facility, when the engine burst into flames and exploded on its test pad.
After a video of the explosion was shared on Twitter, Musk tweeted: Yeah, not really cool. The team is assessing the damage.
Bussiness Insider ORiginal Content