The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the first Earth orbit test flight of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship spacecraft on the 14th (local time).
According to CNBC, the FAA issued a Starship launch permit to SpaceX on the same day. It is the first orbital test flight of the largest launch vehicle integrated spacecraft under development with the goal of traveling to the moon and Mars.
The FAA said, “After reviewing the Starship launch plan applied by SpaceX, it met all requirements, including safety, environment, policy, payload, airspace integration, and financial responsibility.” “This launch license is valid for five years.” said.
Accordingly, it is expected that the launch of Starship will be possible on the 17th of this month.
“We are targeting the first test flight of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas as early as the 17th,” SpaceX said in a statement. It will be held from 7:00 to 10:05 am (Korea 9:00 pm to 0:05 on the 18th).”
SpaceX stacked the Starship test model SN24 on its ‘super heavy’ rocket prototype BN7. The combined height of the rocket and spacecraft reaches 400 feet (about 122 m). SpaceX completed the test launch of a rocket based on 33 Raptor engines as one of the last technical steps in February.
According to the 2021 flight plan unveiled by SpaceX, it will launch from Starship’s dedicated launch facility Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and head east across the Gulf of Mexico. The ultimate goal is to reach orbit, and the rocket aims to circle the Earth once and fall into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.
Both the rocket and spacecraft are designed to be reusable, but they are test flights and no recovery is attempted.
Spacecraft are designed to carry people and cargo out of the Earth. It is critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX in 2021
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.