Good morning, friends. It’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero looking forward to the next round of jaw-dropping displays by the largest, most powerful rocket in history.
As soon as Tuesday, SpaceX plans to launch a fully-integrated Starship on its sixth flight test, with another list of amazing objectives.
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Many are still talking about the incredible success last month of flight No. 5, primarily the first catch of the super heavy booster after reentry. My personal favorite angle was from a camera on the booster.
SpaceX says flight No. 6 plans to build off that success by attempting to catch the booster at the launch tower again, and reigniting an engine on Starship’s upper stage while in space.
Since April 2023, each flight test has been progressing toward Starship carrying NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon during the Artemis III mission.
While delays, including tension with the FAA over receiving flight licenses, have resulted in several months passing between some of the flight tests, it’s encouraging to see the sixth flight come just a few weeks after the fifth.
After all, while the progress to this point has been remarkable to watch, Starship is still a long way from being ready for the biggest mission in human spaceflight in more than half a century.
Tuesday’s 30-minute launch window in Texas will open at 5 p.m. EST, and we’ll stream it on ClickOrlando.com. Enjoy!
📧 Have any topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 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 eight 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!