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The last SpaceX Starship prototype will take off on Wednesday (January 27), if all goes as planned.
The company originally aimed to launch the Starship SN9 vehicle during a high altitude test flight yesterday (Jan. 26) but was apparently upset by bad weather at SpaceX’s facilities in south Texas, near the village of Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast. The new target date is now Wednesday, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.
“We hope the FAA will approve a test flight tomorrow afternoon,” Musk said via Twitter early this morning (January 26), referring to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
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SN9’s next flight is expected to be similar to that made last month by its predecessor. The SN8 spacecraft – which like SN9 was equipped with three Raptor engines – hovered about 7.8 miles above Boca Chica on December 9. complete all tasks except the last. SN8 descended to its designated landing site a bit too quickly, exploding into a dramatic fireball.
SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and goods to the Moon, Mars and other distant destinations. The architecture consists of two reusable elements: a 165-foot-tall (50-meter) spacecraft called the Starship and a giant rocket named Super Heavy.
The final ship will be powered by six Raptors, and Super Heavy will have around 30 of the engines, Musk said. (Starship will be able to launch off the Moon and Mars but will need Super Heavy to leave Earth.)
Many more Starship prototypes will follow SN8 and SN9 in the skies in the near future, if all goes according to SpaceX’s plan. For example, the SN10 vehicle has been fully assembled and should start testing soon.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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