Starship’s 3rd Flight Test To Take Place Today, Says Elon Musk

Starship’s third flight test is scheduled for launch on March 14, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said. At 12:35 pm IST on March 14, Musk announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Starship’s third launch attempt will be made in about five hours. This means that the flight test will occur at around 5:30 pm IST.

According to SpaceX, the 110-minute test window for Starship will open at 7:00 am CT (5:30 pm IST) on March 14.

Starship launch attempt in ~5 hours
pic.twitter.com/cEBv1EHsQf

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

The fully integrated Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are together called Starship. It is not only the largest and most powerful launch vehicle built by SpaceX, but also the largest and most powerful rocket in the world. 

Starship’s previous flight tests

The Hawthorne-based aerospace firm launched Starship’s second integrated test flight on November 19, 2023. While the launch vehicle exploded within minutes after launch, it was not a complete failure, but a partial success. This is because Starship reached space by climbing to an altitude of about 150 kilometres, implying that the rocket went above the Karman line. The Karman line, from which space begins, has an altitude of 100 kilometres above sea level. 

Also, Starship successfully powered all 33 raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster, and had a successful stage separation.

SpaceX launched Starship’s first orbital test flight on April 20, 2023, from Starbase in Texas. However, Starship exploded a few minutes after launch. 

During the first integrated test flight, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.

However, as part of the second integrated test flight, a successful stage separation occurred. 

This means that SpaceX rectified a lot of mistakes that resulted in the explosion of Starship during the first test flight.

Also, as part of the second test flight, the booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation, unlike the first flight test, in which disassembly occurred before stage separation. During the second flight test, Starship’s engines fired for several minutes while the spacecraft was on its way to space. 

SpaceX said that the second integrated test flight will help the aerospace firm improve Starship’s reliability as the company aims to make life multiplanetary. 

The Starship system represents a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.