(SpaceX)
UPDATE 3/14: The rocket lifted off at 8:25 a.m. Central time Thursday on 16.7 million pounds of thrust from 33 Raptor engines. The test flight featured what looked like a smooth ascent for the 397-foot-tall vehicle, but it later broke up about 40 miles above the Indian Ocean.
Original Story:The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared SpaceX to conduct a third Starship test flight, which could happen as soon as tomorrow.
“The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
As a result, the regulator has issued a license that permits SpaceX to conduct the launch from Boca Chica, Texas. The same license also allows the company to stage water landings of the Super Heavy Booster in the Gulf of Mexico and of the Starship vehicle in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX had already been preparing for the FAA license’s approval by stacking a third Starship vehicle for launch. The company is now aiming to conduct the third flight test starting at 8 a.m. EST on Thursday, during a 110-minute test window. The launch will be live streamed, although it could be cancelled if the weather is bad.
During previous two test flights, the Starship vehicle successfully took off from the launch pad only to later explode — all the while sending back data to the company. SpaceX says it's since corrected the errors while planning for a more ambitious third flight that’ll test even more Starship systems.
SpaceX is looking to pull off a “successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship’s payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship."
The third flight promises to bring SpaceX a step closer to using the Starship vehicle for human-led missions to the Moon and Mars. The company also plans on using Starship to accelerate deployment of next-generation Starlink satellites.