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SpaceX's Starship Flight 8 will fly on Friday, according to CEO Elon Musk. Musk shared the details about the upcoming flight in an X post after speculation surrounding a potential launch on Wednesday. Starship Flight 8 comes after a surprising upper-stage ship failure on Flight 7, with SpaceX having tested the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship through static fires before heading into launch.
Starship Flight 8 will fly the ship's second stage once again after SpaceX's surprising static fire test earlier this month that tested the six Raptor engines on the rocket for an atypically longer duration.
SpaceX Gears Up For Starship Flight 8 A Little Over A Month After Flight 7
Musk's comments follow growing speculation after the FAA's air traffic advisory notices shared that Starship could fly on Wednesday at the earliest. As of the time of publishing, the FAA is yet to reveal any details of the progress that SpaceX and the agency have made on Starship Flight 7's mishap report.
As has been the case with some previous Starship test accidents, the FAA announced that it would work with SpaceX on a mishap report. This report typically extends the duration between successive Starship flights by months. However, this time around it appears that FAA and SpaceX are close to completing the report.
Yet, despite multiple FAA notices and a notice by Cameron County officials mentioning Starship flight test activities, SpaceX is yet to announce Starship Flight 8's launch date. Footage from local media shows that the launch pad is empty, and previous tests have typically seen SpaceX ship the booster and ship to the site and stack them on top of each other before announcing its intent to launch.
According to Musk, Starship Flight 8 can fly on Friday. Unless SpaceX shares more details about the potential test, it's unclear whether the upcoming flight will repeat Flight 7's test objectives. SpaceX had big plans for the Flight 7 ship. It intended to test catch hardware, upgraded heat shield tiles and an in-space Raptor engine ignition during the test.
However, these objectives weren't met as the ship exploded over the Caribbean in a development that few had expected ahead of launch. The upper stage Starship has performed well during most of the test flights, and SpaceX's release after the Starship Flight 7 mishap shared that a fire in the engine bay led to the ship's untimely demise.
Should Starship Flight 8 be successful and lead to the ship successfully softly splashing down in the Indian Ocean, then SpaceX might attempt to catch the rocket with the launch tower on Starship Flight 9. The only evidence for this so far is an FCC filing which lists either a tower catch or a splashdown for both the first and second-stage rockets. Catching the ship with the tower is an important test objective as it will provide SpaceX with the confidence in its rocket that will eventually have to refuel other rockets in space to develop a propellant depot.
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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