With the weekend with us, SpaceX is moving full speed ahead to conduct the fifth Starship test flight on Sunday. Starship Flight 5 was dealt with a setback last month after SpaceX revealed that the FAA's license approval was taking longer than expected and would likely see Flight 5 delayed to late November, as per the agency's estimates. However, things took a dramatic turn this week after the FAA's initial airmen notices and NASA's schedule for its observation aircraft both hinted that Flight 5 might take place in October. SpaceX confirmed later that Flight 5 could fly as soon as Sunday, pending the FAA's approval.
Now, after installing the flight termination system on the Starship Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage spacecraft, the firm has restacked the rockets in yet another development that increases the odds of Starship flying on Sunday.
SpaceX Stacks Starship Second Stage Spacecraft On Super Heavy Booster Ahead Of Flight 5
With less than two days to go before SpaceX might potentially launch Starship Flight 5, the firm has been busy running last minute tests and preparing for launch. These have seen SpaceX test its tower catch arms multiple times, and install the flight termination system on the ship and the booster ahead of flight.
While Starship Flight 5 is still contingent on the FAA's approval, multiple factors apart from SpaceX's quick pre flight preparations suggest that a flight is more likely than not. For instance, officials in Boca Chica County have published closure notices for the beach and the highway, and the FAA has also released a notice to airmen informing them about Flight 5. Additionally, NASA has placed an imaging support placeholder for its WB-57 aircraft for two weeks starting Sunday.
The NASA placeholder is particularly important since two of the three WB-57 aircraft operated by the agency are currently under maintenance. Sunday is also an important day for the space agency since SpaceX is also slated to launch the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon. This mission has been years in development, and it will mark a rare launch of SpaceX's most powerful operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy.
With the Starship upper stage spacecraft now stacked on top of the Super Heavy booster, SpaceX appears to have successfully installed the flight termination system on the two rockets. Now, the firm has to wait for the FAA's potential license approval to launch the third Starship flight of 2024.
Starship Flight 5 is crucial for SpaceX since it is the first time the firm will attempt a tower catch for the 232 foot tall, Super Heavy booster. The tower arms that will attempt a catch are dubbed 'chopsticks', and mission controllers will make a final call before landing whether to proceed. Additionally, another critical watch out item will be the landing of the upper stage Starship. If the rocket can conduct a soft splashdown on the water, then SpaceX might attempt to return the rocket to the launch site as soon as in Starship Flight 7.
SpaceX's vice president for build and flight reliability, Bill Gerstenmaier, is quite confident about a tower catch being successful. Speaking at the National Academies' Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space earlier this week, he shared that SpaceX "landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean," which makes the firm quite confident for successfully conducting a tower catch.
Starship stacked ahead of its fifth flight test. We expect regulatory approval in time to fly on October 13 pic.twitter.com/HCN4dcm1hZ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 11, 2024
Updated at 4:01:11 p.m. ET with SpaceX's social media post and removed earlier link.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
