SpaceX's Starship will soon see space for the first time.
Elon Musk, the CEO of the popular private spacecraft company, recently announced that the company is considering launching its Starship spacecraft soon in late April.
SpaceX previously planned to launch its Starship spacecraft for the first time in March, but regulatory approval had other plans for the spacecraft, per a previous Space.com article.
SpaceX Starship First Launch Date Details
Starship launch trending towards near the end of third week of April
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2023
Musk mentioned on his official Twitter account that SpaceX is considering launching its Starship spacecraft near or within the third week of April following a delay in acquiring a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) license approval that put it on hold on Mar. 17.
The Verge mentioned that SpaceX followed-up Musk's announcement with a five-minute all-CG reel of Starship executing missions to Mars, along with it refueling and helping humanity establish an outpost on the Red Planet, per The Verge.
Starship fully stacked at Starbase. Team is working towards a launch rehearsal next week followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later pending regulatory approval pic.twitter.com/9VbJLppswp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 6, 2023
A recent Space.com article mentioned that the company has been preparing itself for the launch with it gearing up and accelerating prep work for the launch just recently. For instance, technicians had fully stacked the spacecraft in question, with it placing its Ship 24 upper-stage prototype atop its Booster 7 first stage on the orbital launch mount at the company's South Texas facility, Starbase.
While Musk didn't give any specific date for Starship's first-ever launch, the activities around the ship and his propensity to make cannabis jokes seem to imply that he means to launch the spacecraft on Apr. 20 (or 4/20), a holiday for cannabis culture. If true, Musk would be making good on his statement about launching Starship on Apr. 20.
However, SpaceX still has to wait for an orbital launch license from the FAA before it could launch its Starship. An FAA spokesperson stated in an email to The Street that the government agency will make a "license determination" only if SpaceX meets and satisfies all licensing, safety, and other regulatory requirements.
If the FAA's operations plan advisory is to be believed, however, SpaceX's Starship might go to orbit between Apr.17 and Apr. 22, meaning that the Starship's launch could still happen on 4/20. Nevertheless, Ars Technica's anonymous sources mentioned that the FAA and SpaceX are working closely together to get the regulatory approval over with, with the FAA being expected to provide a license to SpaceX soon.
How Does Starship Work?
SpaceX's Starship is a fully reusable transportation system allegedly designed to be the most powerful launch system ever developed, with it capable of carrying up to 100 people on "long-duration, interplanetary flights," per SpaceX's official website. The company claims that the spacecraft will help enable satellite delivery, the development of a moon base, and point-to-point transport on Earth.
The spacecraft's Super Heavy First Stage is powered by 33 of SpaceX's new Raptor engines, while the upper-stage spacecraft, the Starship, comes with six Raptors. These two stages will separate on launch, with the former heading to the Gulf of Mexico for splashdown; the Starship will enter Earth's orbit and reenter Earth to vertically land in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
