Hi friends, it’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero and perhaps like you, I’ve been waiting for the big update from SpaceX on when the most powerful rocket to ever fly might get off the ground again.
While Starship is still going through the launch licensing process with the federal government, the company itself says the nearly 400-foot launch vehicle is ready for its first flight test since its historic debut in April that ended explosively.
Just last week, SpaceX said it completed a wet dress rehearsal with the fully integrated spaceship and its super heavy booster while also acknowledging a launch date is still pending regulatory approval.
One of those final hurdles is a review of Starship’s new water deluge system also known as the flame deflector. SpaceX said it conducted a full pressure test of the newly installed system in July.
Without a flame diverter for the first launch, Starship’s 33 engines generating 16 million pounds of thrust caused major damage to the launch site in Texas, including a 25-foot-deep crater into the launch mount along with scattering debris and dust. Combined with the other issues of the first test, SpaceX and the FAA identified more than 60 corrective actions to take before the next attempt, all of which SpaceX says are now completed.
The feds have until March of next year to review the environmental concerns of the next launch but fortunately for SpaceX, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that process could conclude as soon as Nov. 18.
A fully reusable spacecraft, Elon Musk envisions Starship ultimately achieving his dream of making life multi-planetary by establishing a colony on Mars. Before then, NASA plans to use Starship to land astronauts on the moon during the Artemis III mission.
Stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com for all updates regarding the next possible launch date.
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👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After seven years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!