World's largest rocket to fly into space again: Details
Starship, the world's largest rocket, prepares for its next mission (photo: Getty Images)
SpaceX's Starship, the world's largest rocket, will once again launch into outer space. The orbital flight is scheduled for Tuesday night, TVN24 reports.
The sixth test flight of the Starship rocket, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, is scheduled for Tuesday night, November 19. According to the company's website, the 30-minute launch window will open at 16:00 CET. The rocket will be launched from the Starbucks in Boca Chica, Texas.
Maneuvers and tests
As SpaceX representatives explained, the upcoming test flight will focus on several important stages of the launch process. The purpose of the tests is to return the carrier to the launch site and land safely, restart the ship's engine in space, and analyze thermal protection and maneuvers during reentry and landing in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Engineers hope that the data collected will bring them closer to creating a reusable system.
Starship is a two-stage mega-missile measuring over 121 meters. Its first stage is a Super Heavy launch vehicle, the launch module, and the second stage is the spacecraft itself. The system is designed to launch the largest payloads into orbit and significantly reduce the cost of such transportation.
According to SpaceX, Starship will play a key role in the colonization of the Moon and then Mars in the future. A sufficiently large fleet could even provide permanent transportation to the Moon. NASA also pins its hopes on the SpaceX mission, which wants to send its astronauts to the Moon using the Starship rocket as part of the Artemis 3 mission scheduled for 2026.
The Starship at its base in Boca Chica, Texas (photo: DAL)
Unsuccessful attempts
Test flights of starships have not always been successful. During the first attempt, in April 2023, the spacecraft exploded in midair. The explosion occurred 4 minutes after launch when it failed to detach from the super-heavy rocket carrying it.
The second unsuccessful attempt took place in November 2023. The upper stage of the rocket broke away from the first stage but then exploded. In the third flight (March of this year), Starship performed a reentry maneuver from space for the first time. Then it was destroyed, but during the flight, engineers collected a lot of valuable data.
Photo of the third Starship test flight (photo: Newscom)
SpaceX will launch about five Starship unmanned vehicles to Mars in two years.
