SpaceX To Start First Starship Launch Rehearsal Soon

Last week’s hints have now been confirmed: SpaceX is ready for Starship’s first orbital flight test. After NASA published the first indication of this, SpaceX and finally Elon Musk confirmed the project.

It could be that time soon. Elon Musk’s private space company is about to conduct its first orbital flight of the entire system consisting of the giant booster and the Ship 24 upper stage. Accordingly, the company has shown new photos of the Super Heavy Lift rocket at the facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Twitter.

“Starship fully stacked at Starbase,” SpaceX commented on the images. “The team is working toward a launch rehearsal next week, followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later, pending regulatory approval.”

An important approval for the start is still missing

On the same day, SpaceX owner Elon Musk announced an even more aggressive schedule: “Starship is stacked and ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval,” he wrote on Twitter.

NASA and SpaceX have been working toward this date for years. Earlier this year, the company reached a milestone. In February, shortly after SpaceX successfully completed the rocket’s first-ever stacked-fuel test, Musk said the company would attempt to launch Starship in March.

However, the tests that followed did not go as expected. There were a few failures when attempting to static fire all 33 first-stage Raptor engines. Therefore, many experts still believe that the new schedule that Musk is now bringing into play is far too optimistic and impossible. 

According to Space.com, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has set April 17 as the tentative launch window for Starship. However, the FAA has yet to grant SpaceX a launch license for the rocket, which has not yet happened.