A little over a month after SpaceX’s large Starship launch ended in an explosion over several Caribbean islands, the company is preparing its next rocket for a test flight.
According to a notice posted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the eighth test flight of the Starship vehicle could take place as early as February 26 from the Starbase launch site in South Texas. The launch window extends from 5:30 pm local time (23:30 UTC) to 7:09 pm (01:09 UTC).
Company sources confirmed that this launch date is plausible, but it’s also possible that the launch could slip a day or two to Thursday or Friday of next week.
This is an important flight for SpaceX to get the Starship program back on track.
During the last mission on January 16, the massive rocket’s first stage performed normally, and a few minutes after launching, it was successfully and spectacularly caught by its launch tower in South Texas. However, a few minutes into the flight of the Starship upper stage, a fire developed in the aft section of the vehicle, leading to the loss of its engines. The vehicle broke apart, and residents and tourists in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico observed a shower of debris falling through the atmosphere.
The FAA deliberates
The impacts of the failure in spaceflight were tangible here on Earth. After the breakup of Starship, FAA air traffic controllers cleared additional airspace over the debris zone for more than an hour, rerouting, diverting, and delaying dozens of commercial aircraft. Later, debris was collected on Turks and Caicos, and the FAA opened an anomaly investigation. The federal agency has the responsibility to protect people and property on the ground.
That investigation has not concluded. However, it seems clear that the FAA—in issuing its notice this week—and SpaceX believe that a resolution is coming soon. SpaceX has been making final preparations for stacking the Starship upper stage onto its first stage, which could happen in the next few days.
