Tag: Boca Chica
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Starship ready for historic maiden flight, gains FAA launch license
With SpaceX confirming Starship is now ready for flight, all eyes were on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue its launch license. That was finally granted on Friday evening. Additionally, the company gave more details about the planned time frame for flight and the timeline for the launch. Ship 24 was also destacked from…
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Schedule for SpaceX’s Starship test flight hinges on FAA regulatory approval
File photo of SpaceX’s Ship 24 vehicle, slated to fly on the Starship integrated flight test. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now SpaceX continues to prepare for a launch attempt as soon as next week for the first test flight of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, with final work on the ship’s self-destruct…
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SpaceX readying Starship rocket for around-the-world test flight next week
SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket stand fully stacked at the company’s Starbase launch facility in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX said Tuesday it won’t perform a final countdown dress rehearsal this week for the giant new Starship launch vehicle, and could send the rocket — standing nearly 40 stories tall on its Texas…
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Starship into final preps for launch targeting second half of April
Ship 24 and Booster 7 – now returned to a full-stack stance – are waiting to attempt their historic test flight. While a launch date remains fluid, hopes remain high that the vehicle could rise out of Starbase in the second half of April. Numerous prelaunch objectives have already been achieved before the approval of…
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SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Feb. 10 with details. The Super Heavy booster fired 31 of its engines at 3:14 p.m. CST (4:14 p.m. EST; 2114 GMT) Thursday. Credit: SpaceX In a significant milestone preparing for liftoff of the world’s most powerful rocket, SpaceX test-fired 31 of the booster’s 33 methane-fueled engines Thursday in South Texas as the…
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SpaceX ready for 33-engine test of Starship’s Super Heavy booster
The Super Heavy booster for SpaceX’s new Starship mega-rocket is powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, seen here in a file photo from last year. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX is gearing up for the first full-up test-firing Thursday of all 33 engines on the booster for the company’s Starship mega-rocket in Texas, a critical milestone on…
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Boosters 7 and 9 in dual flow toward Starbase test milestones
With Booster 7 returned to the Mega Bay (High Bay 2) at Starbase, all eyes are on its stablemate, Booster 9, as both vehicles prepare for a roll down Highway 4. Booster 7 recently completed another important test as SpaceX continues to inch closer to an orbital test flight of Starship with another Static Fire…
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Amid Starship milestones, Booster 7 set to return for pre-launch testing
SpaceX’s Starship program continues to march through a fluid set of milestones, ranging from a new record number of Raptor engines firing simultaneously, to the anticipated presence of a vehicle on the Starship pad at Florida’s historic LC-39A by the second quarter of 2023. Booster 7 achieved the seven-engine static fire test milestone before rolling…
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SpaceX teams refining countdown procedures for Starship testing
In recent weeks, SpaceX has not only moved back into Starship testing with Ship 24, but has also performed multiple engine tests with Booster 7 after the explosion below it during a failed spin prime test, and repairs after that in the mega bay. It is now time to look at parts of the countdown…
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Awaiting Static Fire as SpaceX sets up Starship’s test campaign
It was December 29 of last year when Ship 20 performed its fourth and final static fire test. That was the last time any Starship vehicle had performed a static fire test. However, Ship 24 is now being readied to undergo a similar test campaign in preparation for the launch of Starship’s first orbital test…