Back to Squawk list
  • 22

SpaceX clears final hurdle for second Starship test flight

Submitted
 
SpaceX has received clearance from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to launch its huge Starship rocket on a much-anticipated second test flight. The agency granted SpaceX a launch license for the company's next-generation rocket on Wednesday, after a first launch attempt in April ended in a fiery explosion. “The FAA has given license authorization for the second launch of the @SpaceX Starship Super Heavy vehicle,” the FAA said in a statement on the social media platform X. “The FAA… (www.nbcnews.com) More...

Sort type: [Top] [Newest]


ColinSeftel
Colin Seftel 6
Liftoff is scheduled to occur on Saturday (November 18) during a 20-minute window that opens at 8 am EST (1300 UTC).
sparkie624
sparkie624 0
Hope they video gets posted!
rthowell89
Richard Howell 2
SpaceX will be livestreaming it on Twitter/X
travistx
travistx 2
It’ll be live streamed by a bunch of youtubers on site, too. nasaspaceflight and labpadre, to name two.
jbsimms
James Simms 0
Not getting up that early to watch something that’ll be on YT later on.
stratofan
stratofan 4
To quote Jim Lovell, "There is nothing routine about spaceflight." There ae always glitches and hiccups before you can have a successful launch and flight. Most do not remember the early days of NASA, when they had a blank check! They are movies, but there is a lot of truth in "The Right Stuff, and, "The Martian". Many Oh S**t moments before they got it right!

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

stratofan
stratofan 4
I can see by u r comments you think the Wright Brothers should never have flown......
wholestepbend
Arch Top 4
So original!
rgraham11
Robert Graham 5
Get ready for another fireworks show.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

RWSlater
Ron Slater 1
I know this is a test flight but I was wondering why they won't at lease try to land the booster on an old barge or something. If it works great, if it doesn't they learn a lot from it. Same thing for the Starship itself, put an old expendable barge out in the pacific north of Hawaii and get it a try. In any even it will be exciting
ColinSeftel
Colin Seftel 8
The Super-heavy booster doesn't have landing legs and will only be able to land using the Mechazilla arms at the launch site.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 1
At some point that will have to change if they want to land it on Mars.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 1
Sorry, that was supposed to be in reply to travistx.
ColinSeftel
Colin Seftel -1
Super-heavy will never leave Earth.
travistx
travistx 2
True, like Falcon 9, it's just a booster.
djames225
djames225 1
If launch sequence is done properly, with proper launch pad suppression and none of this "let's light the Raptors in stages" garbage, It should achieve orbit without issue.
travistx
travistx 0
Starship doesn't have any landing legs, either.
djames225
djames225 0
Actually it does. 6 of them folded 180 degrees during launch etc.(they may add 2 more) Unfortunately they are designed as shock absorbers which means they are 1 time use then toss. Hence why if/when Starship were to return to earth after a Moon/Mars trip, it would need to be caught by Mechazilla.
rthowell89
Richard Howell 2
They only had those installed for the Ship flight tests. The current Ships do not have any landing legs installed and in fact, they are thinking of installing three more Raptor vacuum engines on them.
djames225
djames225 2
I believe travistx was talking in general in response to Colin's comment. The ships that will eventually be used will have landing legs hence my "why if/when Starship were to return to earth after a Moon/Mars trip, it would need to be caught by Mechazilla." The integrated test flight units have non as they are not needed. Want to get it in the air first and worry about landing it later.
travistx
travistx 0
Currently, neither Starship nor the boosters have landing legs installed. Future boosters and ships are supposedly going to be caught in the "chopsticks", but as far as I'm aware, they haven't worked out how to land on the Moon or Mars.
djames225
djames225 2
The boosters will never have landing legs and will be caught by Mechazilla. The same goes for Starship when it returns from Moon/Mars. The legs will self adjust to the surface and act like shock absorbers to cushion the impact. But they will be a 1 time use.

Will they need tweaking...a whole lot of tweaking and re-designs.
djames225
djames225 0
Personally I would love for a complete re-design and have it land on the belly. Landing it straight up could be a recipe looking to a toppling disaster if it caught a very uneven surface. That and it's a heck of a long "jump" from the crew cabin to the surface.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

jbsimms
James Simms 1
His money. If I were to win the Mega-Gazillion Lottery, I’ll be damned if someone tries to tell me how to spend it. I’ll tell them to go eff off on themselves & the horse they rode in on long before they could get the few words much less the next sentence out.

Login

Don't have an account? Register now (free) for customized features, flight alerts, and more!
Did you know that FlightAware flight tracking is supported by advertising?
You can help us keep FlightAware free by allowing ads from FlightAware.com. We work hard to keep our advertising relevant and unobtrusive to create a great experience. It's quick and easy to whitelist ads on FlightAware or please consider our premium accounts.
Dismiss