Date, time, goals for SpaceX launch

When is the next Starship flight test?
SpaceX to attempt booster catch, Starlink satellite deployment test
SpaceX looks to increase Starship launches in 2025
What is the SpaceX Starship rocket?
What did Starship tests accomplish in 2024?

After weeks of preparation, SpaceX is now preparing for the seventh flight test of the Starship vehicle on Monday afternoon.
In a first, the Starship will attempt a Starlink payload deployment test – a key capability for the vehicle in the future.
SpaceX plans to once again attempt to return and catch the rocket booster at the launch pad, which would cause sonic booms in the area around the landing zone.

The year ahead is shaping up to be a pivotal one for Starship, the massive spacecraft built and operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX – and it all could begin Monday with the vehicle’s first flight test of 2025.

The Starship’s seventh uncrewed flight test overall may end up being the first of a staggering 25 this year if Musk has his way. Musk, the founder and CEO of the commercial space transportation company, is hoping to win federal approval for SpaceX to quintuple the amount of flight tests conducted in 2024.

But while SpaceX awaits the decision of the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, a “new generation” Starship will fly through the skies, the company said in an update on its website.

The new 400-foot Starship vehicle will feature a number of new upgrades and objectives, building on the milestones SpaceX hit in 2024 – including the landmark rocket booster catch the company pulled off in October. And in a first, the Starship on Monday will attempt a Starlink payload deployment test – a key capability for the vehicle in the future.

“This new year will be transformational for Starship, with the goal of bringing reuse of the entire system online and flying increasingly ambitious missions as we iterate towards being able to send humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, and Mars,” SpaceX said in a statement.

Starship flight tests:Elon Musk wants the FAA to let SpaceX conduct more Starship tests in 2025

When is the next Starship flight test?

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license for the next Starship flight test on Dec. 17, clearing the way for SpaceX to once again launch the world’s largest rocket from south Texas.

After weeks of preparation, SpaceX is now preparing for the seventh flight test of the Starship vehicle on Monday afternoon. The window for the launch opens at 5 p.m. EST, which, as usual, will take place at SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas.

SpaceX to attempt booster catch, Starlink satellite deployment test

The Starship vehicle rolled out to the launch site is a new-and-improved spacecraft featuring upgrades to its upper stage and redesigns to its propulsion system and heat shield, according to SpaceX.

“All add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer missions,” SpaceX said.

During the seventh flight test, mission operators plan to have Starship for the first time attempt to deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX plans to once again attempt to return and catch the rocket booster at the launch pad, which would cause sonic booms in the area around the landing zone. The maneuver, which has only been pulled off once during the October demonstration, was called off in the most recent test in November, which President-elect Donald Trump attended.

This time around, the catch tower has been upgraded with new hardware intended to make a booster catch more feasible. That includes protections to the sensors on the tower’s mechanical arms, nicknamed chopsticks, that SpaceX said were damaged during the Nov. 19 launch, resulting in mission operators diverting the booster for a landing off the Gulf of Mexico.

The Super Heavy rocket booster will also be outfitted with a Raptor engine from the booster that launched and returned on Starship’s fifth flight test in October, marking the first time flight-proven hardware is being reused, SpaceX said. The company also plans to once again reignite its Raptor engines in space to attempt an orbital burn – a crucial maneuver to one day bring a vehicle back to the ground.

SpaceX looks to increase Starship launches in 2025

SpaceX launched just two Starship flight tests in 2023 before increasing the demos to four in 2024, with the final one of the year taking place in November.

But that’s nothing compared to what Musk hopes to accomplish in 2025.

A proposal from Musk would more than quintuple the flight tests of the massive SpaceX megarocket to 25 this year. Though Musk’s request would need approval from federal regulators, it comes as the tech mogul’s influence over U.S. policy is likely to grow when Trump takes office this month.

Before the FAA makes ruling on SpaceX licensing, the federal agency has been soliciting public input on SpaceX’s proposal amid five public meetings in January − including four in Texas and one that will be livestreamed Monday.

What is the SpaceX Starship rocket?

SpaceX has spent years developing and testing the Starship, which is classified as a super heavy-lift launch vehicle and is lauded as the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.

The 400-foot vehicle features two components: The 165-foot Starship spacecraft itself, and the 232-foot Super Heavy rocket it’s perched atop.

SpaceX envisions the spacecraft as being a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both humans and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the moon and even Mars.

Under NASA’s lunar exploration plans, Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule would board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon’s surface. Musk also has grand ambitions of sending the first Starships to Mars in late 2026, the next time that Earth and Mars line up, followed by crewed flights in 2028.

What did Starship tests accomplish in 2024?

SpaceX’s fourth and final Starship flight test of 2024 unfolded in November in front of a newly-elected Trump. Two previous tests were conducted in 2023.

All six flight tests so far of the super heavy-lift launch vehicle have generally improved with each iteration. During the fourth test on June 6, the Starship vehicle splashed down for the first time in the Indian Ocean after the first three tests ended in explosions.

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