Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is gearing up for an exciting milestone. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly called SpaceX, anticipates test-flying its self-developed spaceship, Starship, as early as May 5th.
According to an announcement on SpaceX’s website on the 26th, the fourth flight test of Starship will commence as soon as regulatory approval is granted.
The planned launch time is 7 a.m. Central Time. SpaceX will livestream the rocket launch and Starship flight through its website and X.
In its third test flight last March, Starship successfully orbited the Earth for 48 minutes. It reached an Earth orbit of over 200 km (about 124 miles) at a maximum speed of more than 26,000 km/h (about 16,154 mph), circling half of the Earth. In the past two test flights, each spacecraft exploded 4 and 10 minutes after launch.
However, at that time, Starship had entirely lost communication with the ground while reentering the atmosphere and descending. It is presumed to have disintegrated by burning or crashing into the sea during reentry. During its third test flight, it succeeded in more than 70% of the entire test flight journey of about 65 minutes. This is why the fourth test is attracting attention.
SpaceX explained that it has implemented several software and hardware upgrades to resolve issues raised in previous flights and improve overall flight stability for the fourth test.
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