After completing the stacking of the company’s second Starship rocket, Elon Musk announced the rocket is ready to launch. However there are a few more hurdles to finish that could lead to some down time before it can really fly.
Update: FAA closes mishap investigation
SpaceX stacks its next Starship rocket to fly
Tuesday afternoon SpaceX began lifting Starship Ship 25 using the landing catch arms on the orbital launch mount down in Starbase, Texas. The ship was stacked on top of Super Heavy Booster 9 forming the world’s tallest and most powerful rocket ever developed.
After the stack was completed, Musk posted on social media that “Starship is ready to launch,” and the company is just waiting for its launch license to be amended. However, most likely SpaceX has some more time working on testing and of course a launch readiness review before they can truly be ready to launch.
This launch will be SpaceX’s second Starship launch, which will hopefully build upon its first flight back in April. Musk hasn’t stated what goals the second integrated flight test of Starship will attempt to reach, the first mission’s goal was solely to not blow up the pad, which it just barely didn’t do.
During April’s Starship launch, the rocket lifted off from its launch site in South Texas and cleared the tower. After a few minutes of flight, during stage separation, the two stages failed to separate and began to tumble out of control. This led to SpaceX’s controllers to terminate the flight, which took longer than expected to dentate but did so and ended Starship’s first true launch experience.
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Several barriers could stand in the way of launch
It’s important for us to bring back this disclaimer now that Starship launch dates are being discussed again: Just because Elon tweets a launch date, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
The FAA has the final say on when and if Starship will launch again any time soon. After the first launch an investigation was started by both SpaceX and the FAA. SpaceX’s investigation would find out what went wrong and what improvements were needed for it to not happen again. While the FAA’s investigation was to ensure it could trust SpaceX with launching Starship again.
SpaceX gave their final report to the FAA a few weeks ago and now we are just awaiting to see what the FAA will do with that information. If the agency grants SpaceX another launch it will amend the current launch license. The other option of denying SpaceX the ability to launch again is extremely unlikely.
What is another cause for concern to those looking to see Starship fly again soon is the ongoing lawsuit against the FAA on the approval to let SpaceX launch from South Texas. Currently that lawsuit is in the early stages and SpaceX has joined on movant on the side of the defense.
What could happen, and what I feel is a likely outcome, is those that are bringing the suit forward could request an injunction be placed on SpaceX’s launch license until the suit is handled. Now I won’t get into any legal talk because well, I’m not at all a lawyer and have a fairly basic understanding of the legal system as a whole. However, if an injection is successfully ordered, delays to Starship’s develop could cause harm to SpaceX and NASA’s timelines.
Will that happen? Unknown, but it’s something to think about.
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