SpaceX has revealed when it plans to launch its sixth test flight of the Starship rocket, which will eventually be responsible for taking life from Earth to Mars.
In mid-October, SpaceX successfully launched the fifth test flight of Starship from Starbase, Texas, with the intention of catching the Super Heavy Booster. It did, marking a major accomplishment and milestone in the Starship project, which has continued to improve with each launch.
SpaceX aces fifth Starship test flight with successful Super Heavy booster catch
SpaceX will continue with the Starship program, now planning for the sixth test flight in the program’s history. The company revealed on Wednesday that it is slated its earliest opportunity for IFT-6 on Monday, November 16, roughly a week and a half from today:
Starship’s fifth flight test was a seminal moment in iterating towards a fully and rapidly reusable launch system.
Next up: the sixth flight test of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Monday, November 18 → https://t.co/oIFc3u9laE pic.twitter.com/5496ApNHkA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 6, 2024
There are big hopes for the sixth test flight, as SpaceX frontman Elon Musk has already confirmed that it will attempt to not only catch Super Heavy Booster but Starship as well, which would be unprecedented as it would be just a month after defying the odds with the first “catch.”
The timing of the sixth test flight will all depend on whether SpaceX can have an efficient, smooth, and streamlined approval license process from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
SpaceX has had a difficult relationship with the FAA for some time, even going as far as to criticize the agency for delaying Starship’s fifth test flight and sending the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for launches that occurred more than a year prior.
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