If all goes according to plan, we won’t have to wait long before the most powerful rocket ever built takes to the skies again.
That rocket, SpaceX’s 400-foot (122-meter) tall Starship, has completed four test flights so far. And a fifth is on the way, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.
“Flight 5 in 4 weeks,” Musk said Friday (July 5) via X, the social media platform he owns.
Starship consists of two elements: a first-stage booster known as Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall upper-stage spacecraft called Starship, or simply Ship. Both are designed to be reusable.
Starship’s four test flights took place in April and November 2023, and March 14 and June 6 of this year. All launched from Starbase, SpaceX’s facility in South Texas near the city of Brownsville.
The vehicle performed better on each successive flight. The most recent launch, for example, went exactly as planned; Super Heavy and Ship separated on time and returned to Earth as planned, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico and Indian Ocean, respectively.
That success helps explain Flight 5’s relatively quick turnaround. Because Starship performed as expected on June 6, SpaceX has fewer issues to analyze before its next launch. And the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration didn’t require an investigation into a mishap, so technical readiness, rather than regulatory approval, is the key timeline for Flight 5.
Flight 5 will be an exciting new adventure, if all goes according to plan: SpaceX has said it plans to bring the giant booster back for a precision landing at Starbase, using the “chopstick arms” on the facility’s launch tower.
According to Musk, this bold strategy will increase Starship’s flight frequency, allowing the booster to be inspected, refurbished and relaunched more quickly.