Tag: Starship
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SpaceX is about to launch Starship again—the FAA will be more forgiving this time
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the commercial launch license for the fourth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket Tuesday, with liftoff from South Texas targeted for just after sunrise Thursday. “The FAA has approved a license authorization for SpaceX Starship Flight 4,” the agency said in a statement. “SpaceX met all safety and other licensing…
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SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on 14th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 8-5 mission on June 4, 2024. The mission coincided with the 14th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch in 2010. Image: Spaceflight Now SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday night, 14 years to the…
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Launch Roundup – Starship launches for fourth time, Starliner launches on third attempt, Virgin Galactic to fly VSS Unity for last time
There were two high-profile missions scheduled this week after a challenging weekend that saw the scrub of another attempt to launch the first crewed Starliner and the announcement that the dearMoon project is canceled. In more positive news, it also confirmed that Chang’e 6 landed on the moon’s far side. Starship was one of two…
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Rocket Report: North Korean rocket explosion; launch over Chinese skyline
Welcome to Edition 6.46 of the Rocket Report! It looks like we will be covering the crew test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and the fourth test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket over the next week. All of this is happening as SpaceX keeps up its cadence of flying multiple Starlink missions per week.…
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As SpaceX Completes Second Starship WDR, FAA Conducts Safety Investigation Into Flight 3
SpaceX is clearing the final milestones before launching the Starship vehicle for the fourth time. The FAA has completed its safety investigation into Flight 3 of Starship and has deemed it non-dangerous for the public. Additionally, the company successfully completed the second wet dress rehearsal (WDR) of the full stack consisting of Booster 11 and…
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SpaceX sets date for next Starship flight, explains what went wrong the last time
SpaceX is targeting June 5 for the next flight of its massive Starship rocket, the company said Friday. The highly anticipated test flight—the fourth in a program to bring Starship to operational readiness and make progress toward its eventual reuse—will seek to demonstrate the ability of the Super Heavy first stage to make a soft…
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SpaceX details learnings from Starship Flight 3, sets June 5 as target launch date for Flight 4
Onboard cameras on the Starship upper stage flown during Flight 3 (Starship IFT-3) show the vehicle surrounded by plasma as it reenters the atmosphere on March 14, 2024. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is preparing to launch its massive Starship rocket on its fourth flight test from its Starbase facilities in southern Texas as soon as June…
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Surviving reentry is the key goal for SpaceX’s fourth Starship test flight
After three test flights, SpaceX has shown that the world’s most powerful rocket can reach space. Now, engineers must demonstrate the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle can get back home. This will be the central objective for the fourth Starship test flight, which could happen as soon as early June, according to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder…
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We take a stab at decoding SpaceX’s ever-changing plans for Starship in Florida
There are a couple of ways to read the announcement from the Federal Aviation Administration that it’s kicking off a new environmental review of SpaceX’s plan to launch the most powerful rocket in the world from Florida. The FAA said on May 10 that it plans to develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for SpaceX’s…
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Rocket Report: Starship stacked; Georgia shuts the door on Spaceport Camden
Welcome to Edition 6.44 of the Rocket Report! Kathy Lueders, general manager of SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility, says the company expects to receive an FAA launch license for the next Starship test flight shortly after Memorial Day. It looks like this rocket could fly in late May or early June, about two-and-a-half months after the…