SpaceX is aiming in early December to launch its giant Starship rocket system into orbit for the first time, a crucial demonstration flight as it aims to fly NASA astronauts to the Moon within the next few years, a US official said on Monday.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has sought for years to send its massive next-generation rocket system into orbit from the company’s private launch facilities in Texas, where it launched only prototypes of the top half of Starship to about 10 km high to demonstrate landing attempts. .
The December mission will test the entire system for the first time, involving the company’s 230-foot (70-meter) Super Heavy booster to lift the Starship spacecraft 160 feet (50 meters) into orbit.
“We’re tracking four major Starship flights. The first here will be in December, part of early December,” Mark Kirasich, a senior NASA official responsible for overseeing the development of the agency’s Artemis Moon program, said during the interview. of a live NASA advisory board meeting. .
Further ground testing with the rocket and regulatory reviews could delay the first orbital mission beyond December. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial launch site safety, has yet to license the mission to SpaceX, part of Musk’s growing corporate universe that also includes Tesla. and Twitter.
The FAA and SpaceX did not immediately return requests for comment.
Starship is set to become SpaceX’s flagship rocket system once fully developed, succeeding the company’s fleet of reusable Falcon 9 rockets as a more powerful and fully reusable ride to space for large batches of satellites. commercial, space tourists and professional astronauts.
NASA in 2021 chose SpaceX’s spacecraft to land humans on the moon around 2025 for the first time since 1972. This mission, under a contract worth around $3 billion (nearly Rs. 24,800 crore), requires several spaceflight tests in advance that could delay the 2025 moon landing mission.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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