New Delhi : After the resounding success of its 10th Starship test flight, SpaceX announced on Tuesday that it is targeting the 11th test flight for October 13.
The company plans to launch the Starship and Super Heavy booster from its Starbase site in South Texas on October 13, with a launch window opening at 6:15 p.m. CT (October 14, 4:45 a.m. IST).
“Starship’s tenth flight test took a significant step forward in developing the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle. Next up: Flight 11 of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Monday, October 13,” SpaceX said on its social media platform X.
During the 11th flight, the booster will use 24 flight-proven Raptor engines. Engineers will focus on demonstrating a unique landing burn engine configuration designed for the next-generation Super Heavy.
The booster will follow a trajectory to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America and will not return to the launch site for capture, SpaceX explained in a blog post.
Flight engineers aim to measure real-world vehicle dynamics as the engines shut down during transitions between different flight phases.
The Starship upper stage will attempt several in-space objectives, including deploying eight Starlink simulators, which match the size of next-generation Starlink satellites.
The flight test will also conduct experiments and operational changes to prepare Starship’s upper stage for future return-to-launch-site missions.
During Starship’s 10th test flight in August, Super Heavy lifted off successfully by igniting all 33 Raptor engines, ascending over the Gulf of America.
Using its four flaps for control, the spacecraft reached its splashdown point in the Indian Ocean, executed a landing flip, and completed the flight test with a landing burn and soft splashdown.
This flight followed anomalies during Flight 7, Flight 8, and Flight 9, which launched earlier this year—in January, March, and May.
Flight 7 and Flight 8 ended with the Ship exploding less than 10 minutes after launch, while Flight 9 broke apart upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Standing more than 400 feet tall when fully stacked, Starship ranks as the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.
The vehicle consists of two elements designed for full and rapid reuse: a booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship.
SpaceX develops Starship to help humanity return to the Moon and eventually settle on Mars.
The company will launch the Moon lander for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon.
–IANS
