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In a week full of launches for the Falcon 9 program that has seen the rocket launch crewed and other missions to space, SpaceX has finally revealed the date for its third Starship test flight. The first Starship test took place in April last year, and the progress slowed down after that as SpaceX had to build a water deluge system at the pad to avoid launch damage. After regulatory approval, which took months, the second Starship flight took off in November 2023 and raised hopes that the third test would occur sooner than the second.
Now, in a post on Elon Musk's X, SpaceX has shared a live stream of its Starship test, which will take place on March 14th.
SpaceX To Conduct Third Starship Test Flight Later This Month
While SpaceX has started to test the Starship Super Heavy booster since last year, the second-stage spacecraft has seen multiple flights that aimed to demonstrate its landing capabilities. Starship has been contracted by NASA to land the first astronauts on the Moon since the Apollo program, and as SpaceX makes progress with the world's largest rocket in Texas, it is also working with NASA for the astronaut launches.
NASA and SpaceX shared an important update about Starship tests late last month when the space agency revealed that it and SpaceX had tested the second stage Starship's docking mechanism. This is an indispensable portion of the rocket, since it will see astronauts make their way inside Starship close to the Moon for their landing. Crew will take off from Earth on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and will make a transfer to Starship in lunar orbit before their descent.
SpaceX's launch date for the third Starship test flight, also called the Starship Integrated Test Flight 3 (IFT-3), comes after Elon Musk had hinted last month that IFT-3 would take place in March.
SpaceX's announcement follows a busy couple of months for Starship. Before it can feel comfortable flying the rocket, the firm has to test its tanks, electrical systems, launch pad and other components to ensure that all systems are able to handle the stresses of flight. One such test took place at the start of this month, and it was one of the final few before launch.
This test saw SpaceX load the first and second stages with fuel and propellant. According to SpaceX, more than ten million pounds of fuel and oxidizer were loaded on its rocket, and it stopped the countdown just ten seconds before launch.
As part of its Starship test campaign SpaceX has to work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ensure that any problem areas on Starship that might have caused the second flight failure are not repeated. Like the previous tests, IFT-3 will also see the Starship second stage try to reach orbit - building up on the IFT-2 second stage, which was the first Starship to have reached orbit.
A March launch will see a turnaround time of three months for the experimental rocket. SpaceX is building a second launch tower in Texas to speed testing and remove any delays to a launch from potential tower upgrades - indicating that the pace can further pick up for future Starship test flights.
You can check out the Starship IFT-3 live stream link below.
Watch Starship's third flight test https://t.co/1u46r769Vp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 5, 2024
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.
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