If all goes according to plan, Starship, SpaceX’s massive new rocket, could make its first orbital test flight in just over a month. SpaceX is currently eyeing mid-to-late April (late April to early May 1402) for this long-awaited mission, which will be launched from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas.
According to Space.com, Elon Muskthe founder and CEO of SpaceX, on Thursday said on Twitter“SpaceX will be ready to launch the Starship in a few weeks. The timing of the launch then depends on receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Assuming this approval takes a few weeks, the first launch attempt will be near the third week of April, known as…
Musk is referring to the phrase “known as…” apparently referring to the possibility that the Starship may be launched on April 20. The 20th of April, or as it is called in North America, four twenty (420), is considered a kind of holiday in marijuana subculture. Musk is always fond of using 420 references and jokes.
The Starship launch system consists of a giant first stage booster called Superheavy and a 50-meter upper stage spacecraft called Starship. Both rockets are made of stainless steel and designed to be very fast and reusable. Superheavy and Starship both use Raptor, SpaceX’s next-generation engine.
The starship has already taken off from Earth several times; But they were short launches with a maximum flight height of 10 km. Also, previous launches only used upper stage prototypes with up to three Raptor engines. So far, the Super Heavy has not taken off the ground; But in the upcoming orbital launch that SpaceX has been working on for a long time, both rockets will fly together. The last Starship launch was almost two years ago in May 2021.
