SpaceX’s subsequent Starship to fly is all dressed up for launch.
On Friday (Jan. 10), SpaceX efficiently stacked its Starship spacecraft atop an enormous Tremendous Heavy booster to arrange for the following launch of the world’s largest rocket subsequent week. Liftoff is about for five p.m. EST (2200 GMT) on Monday (Jan. 13) from SpaceX’s Starbase check web site close to Boca Chica Seaside in South Texas.
“Flight 7 Starship and Tremendous Heavy stacked on the launch pad at Starbase,” SpaceX wrote in a submit on the social media web site X on Friday.
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 7 mission will check a brand new model of Starship and is the primary of probably 25 Starship launches this 12 months. With the Starship upper-stage automobile stacked atop its Tremendous Heavy booster, the whole rocket stands almost 400 toes (122 meters) tall, making it the tallest and strongest launch automobile on Earth.
As its identify suggests, Flight 7 will mark SpaceX’s seventh check flight of Starship, which is designed to be a completely reusable launch system for missions to Earth orbit, the moon Mars and past. NASA has tapped Starship to land its Artemis 3 astronauts on the moon in 2027, whereas SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to launch an uncrewed model of Starship to Mars as early as 2026.
Throughout the Jan. 13 flight, SpaceX will check a sequence of enhancements to the Starship spacecraft, together with upgrades to its flight laptop, avionics and warmth defend. The spacecraft can be carrying a set of simulated Starlink web satellites, which SpaceX hopes to deploy in house throughout the 66-minute flight.
The Starship automobile on Flight 7 additionally has smaller ahead flaps which have been moved away from its warmth defend to scale back publicity to extra warmth throughout reentry, SpaceX wrote in a mission description. SpaceX can be reflying an engine on the rocket’s 33-engine Tremendous Heavy first stage for the primary time.
“The upcoming flight check will launch a new-generation ship with vital upgrades, try Starship’s first payload deployment check, fly a number of reentry experiments geared in the direction of ship catch and reuse, and launch and return the Tremendous Heavy booster,” SpaceX wrote within the mission overview.
If all goes nicely, the Tremendous Heavy stage of the Flight 7 Starship will return to Earth to be caught by big metallic “chopstick” arms at its launch pad at Starbase. SpaceX efficiently demonstrated such a rocket catch in October throughout its Flight 5 check flight however waved off an tried catch a month later throughout the Flight 6 launch.
SpaceX officers have stated they’ll solely proceed with the Flight 7 Tremendous Heavy catch if the rocket and its launch tower every meet crucial standards to make sure a secure catch. If these standards aren’t met, the Tremendous Heavy will routinely default to a tender touchdown and splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico, because it did throughout Flight 6.
“We settle for no compromises on the subject of making certain the security of the general public and our crew, and the return will solely happen if situations are proper,” SpaceX officers wrote within the mission overview.
