SpaceX: starship will conduct its first flight test in "the next few weeks"
January 14, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been saying for nearly a year that the company will try to send a starship to Earth orbit for the first time in a few months.
Musk recently said that the starship would go into orbit "very soon". Considering the recent work progress of SpaceX, this may mean that SpaceX is really about to carry out an orbital launch plan.
In the past few months, SpaceX has conducted a series of tests on the prototype starship 24 and the super heavy booster 7, and is about to attempt its first orbital launch at the company's starship base in southern Texas.
"before the starship's first flight test in the next few weeks, the team is completing a series of ground tests, including full stack pre-launch state exercises and static ignition tests of 33 Raptor engines carried by the No. 7 booster," SpaceX wrote on Twitter.
In the past three months, the prototype starship 24 and the super heavy booster 7 have been integrated and dismantled three times, during which staff have been carrying out various maintenance operations and adjustments.
Musk shared a photo of a starship and super heavy booster stacking on Twitter. At 120 meters high, it is the largest rocket in history. This fully reusable launch platform can carry up to 100 tons of cargo into low-Earth orbit.
SpaceX encountered many setbacks when testing starships on the ground, such as wildfires and unexpected fireballs at the bottom of the launch platform.
At present, SpaceX is still actively cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to obtain a launch license at an early date.
In June last year, the FAA determined that SpaceX's starship activities had "no significant impact" on the environment, but asked the company to make more than 75 changes to make sure there were no changes.
As usual, Mr Musk's promises are dubious. After all, his predictions are far more wrong than right.
But at the same time, SpaceX has been moving steadily, paving the way for the starship's first orbital launch test in the near future.
