SpaceX has given a tentative date for the fifth orbital test of its reusable Starship spacecraft. Its flight will take place on October 13 — if the launch permit is received.
To date, SpaceX has conducted four Starship launches. Each of them was more successful than the previous one and allowed the company to solve new tasks. The first flight ended with loss of control and subsequent destruction of the spacecraft when it was at an altitude of 39 kilometers, the fourth time SpaceX managed to successfully splashed down both Super Heavy and Starship.
The fifth flight will take another step toward the goal of building the first-ever fully reusable space system. Its key task will be the return of the Super Heavy booster. For this purpose, the plan is to utilize the Mechazilla tower, which is equipped with huge mechanical arms. According to the engineers’ idea, it will pick up the booster returning to the spaceport, which will ensure its reuse in the next mission.
As for Starship, it will fly along the same trajectory as the previous time. In the final part of its mission, the spacecraft will enter the Earth’s atmosphere, decelerate, and then splash down in the Indian Ocean.
In preparation for the fifth flight, SpaceX engineers conducted a lot of tests and performed extensive equipment and infrastructure upgrades. They also transferred Starship’s heat shield. During the previous flight, the spacecraft managed to survive re-entry, but received noticeable damage due to heat shield tiles falling off.
SpaceX hopes to launch Starship’s fifth launch on October 13. From a technical point of view, everything has been ready for it for a long time, just needing the lack of flight permission from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In case it is granted, Starship’s launch window will open at 7:00 a.m. CT.
Recall that SpaceX announced its readiness to carry out the fifth Starship launch back in August. However, this was prevented by the lack of launch permission from the FAA. The fact is that the relationship between regulators and SpaceX is not in great shape. Thus, the FAA issued several fines to the company for violating the terms of the launch license. In turn, Elon Musk actively criticizes the activities of regulators and argues that their countless rules are hampering the development of technological progress.
