Tag: Starship
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Starship brought the thunder as it climbed into space for the first time
BOCA CHICA BEACH, Texas—SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket reached space for the first time Saturday, flying straight and true for more than eight minutes before exploding nearly 100 miles over the Gulf of Mexico downrange from the company’s South Texas launch base. With this test flight, SpaceX made important steps forward with Starship, the largest rocket ever…
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Five things to watch for when Starship takes off Saturday morning
SpaceX fans turned out at Starbase, the company’s sprawling test facility in South Texas, on the eve of the second full-scale test flight of the Starship rocket. Stephen Clark/Ars Technica SpaceX fans turned out at Starbase, the company’s sprawling test facility in South Texas, on the eve of the second full-scale test flight of…
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After upgrades, Starship achieves numerous successes during second test flight
With the Federal Aviation Administration and US Fish and Wildlife Service approving the final signoff and license and SpaceX saying the rocket is ready, Starship set sail from Starbase on its second test flight Saturday. Liftoff at the first attempt followed only a one day slip to fix an issue with Booster 9’s grid fin…
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SpaceX delays launch of its giant Starship rocket to swap out a part
BOCA CHICA BEACH, Texas—The launch of SpaceX’s second full-size Starship rocket from South Texas is now scheduled for Saturday, a day later than previously planned, according to company founder Elon Musk. This 24-hour delay will allow time for SpaceX technicians at the company’s launch facility, known as Starbase, to replace a component on the rocket’s…
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The reviews are done—SpaceX is clear to launch Starship
The Federal Aviation Administration approved a commercial launch license Wednesday for SpaceX to fly its second full-scale Starship rocket as soon as Friday, seven months after the giant vehicle’s first test flight. “The FAA has given license authorization for the second launch of the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy vehicles,” the FAA said in a statement.…
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SpaceX receives launch license for second integrated flight test of Starship
SpaceX has received the modified license No. VOL 23-129 Rev. 1, which will allow them to fly its Starship-Super Heavy vehicle for the second time. This came shortly after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) confirmed the completion of their investigation into the new deluge system at the orbital launch site in Starbase. FWS…
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Launch Roundup: Starship, Falcon 9, and Chang Zheng-2C this week
While the spaceflight world waited for the Starship Integrated Flight Test-2 (IFT-2) launch that happened from Texas this week, three other launches were scheduled, from China as well as both main coasts of the United States. One was a Chang Zheng-2C (CZ-2C) from China, and another is Starlink 6-28 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station…
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Rocket Report: Tough times for Astra and Virgin; SpaceX upgrading launch pad
Welcome to Edition 6.19 of the Rocket Report! While we wait for SpaceX to launch the second full-scale test flight of Starship, a lot of the news this week involved companies with much smaller rockets. Astra is struggling to find enough funding to remain in business, and Virgin Galactic says it will fly its suborbital…
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If the next Starship makes it through staging, you can call that a win
SpaceX will have answers to some burning questions in the first three minutes of the next Starship test flight. Did the upgrades to the Starship launch pad in Texas hold up to the rocket’s powerful thrust? Are the rocket’s Raptor engines more reliable than they were on the first Starship test flight in April? And…
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SpaceX poised for ‘mid-November’ launch of second Starship test flight
Aerial view of the fully stacked Starship vehicle at Starbase, Texas, on Sept. 6, 2023. Image: SpaceX. More than half a year after its first flight, SpaceX believes it’s on the cusp of getting to launch its Starship rocket for a second time. On Friday afternoon, the company updated its website to announce that the…