SpaceX is preparing to test-fly a new Starship after the last 4 exploded – Business Insider

SpaceX is getting ready to launch its fifth high-flying Starship from its Texas rocket facilities.

A version of this mega-spaceship is set to become NASA's next moon lander, the vehicle that could put boots on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

Starship Serial No. 15, or SN15, is the latest of a series of Starship prototypes that SpaceX is launching up to 6 miles above Boca Chica, Texas.

As SN15 approaches the peak of its flight, it should shut off its three truck-sized Raptor engines one by one. Then the spaceship should tip sideways and plunge back to Earth, using four wing flaps to control its fall.

As it nears the ground, SN15 should reignite its engines to flip itself upright again and gently lower to the landing pad. This is where its predecessors have failed.

The first two prototypes that soared to high altitude, SN8 and SN9, slammed into the landing pad at high speed and exploded immediately. The third, SN10, landed in one piece but blew up 10 minutes later. The fourth, SN11, exploded in midair as it relit its engines for landing.

The SN8, SN9, and SN10 explosions. Gene Blevins/Reuters; SPadre.com

For SpaceX, explosions during rocket development are par for the course.

"They use a different development philosophy than the government does, which is: Fly. If something goes wrong, they try to fix it. Fly again. If something else goes wrong, they try to fix that," John Logsdon, the founder of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute and a former member of the NASA Advisory Council, told Insider after the fourth Starship explosion. "People have complimented SpaceX on how quickly they move."

But, he added, "the fact that they've had these early development-program problems means that there will have to be a record of success before anybody except an extreme risk-taker is willing to get aboard."

Success may be even more critical now that NASA has chosen Starship to land its next astronauts on the moon.

The agency announced Friday that it was working with SpaceX to turn Starship into the lunar lander that will jump-start its Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. NASA hopes to land its first crewed Starship there in 2024, but a new report from the NASA Office of the Inspector General found that it's "highly unlikely" the agency will meet this deadline.

SpaceX's Starship human lander is designed to carry NASA astronauts to the moon's surface during the Artemis mission. SpaceX

SpaceX's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, has ambitions beyond the lunar surface. Musk has said he plans to build 1,000 Starships that carry people and cargo to Mars. Ultimately, he hopes to establish a settlement there. Flying Starships to orbit would be a major step toward that goal. For now, though, SpaceX is trying to land the prototypes without blowing them up.

Musk said Thursday on Twitter that the company was aiming to launch SN15 sometime in the next week. However, the Federal Aviation Administration has revoked its airspace-closure notices for the area. A Cameron County judge has issued a local road closure for Wednesday, indicating that SpaceX may anchor SN15 to the ground and ignite its engines a crucial pre-launch test called a "static fire."

Airspace and road closures are both required for launch. They can change day-to-day depending on SpaceX's plans and the FAA's launch-licensing procedure, so a new flight opportunity could open up soon.

During the test flight, SpaceX is likely to stream live from the launchpad and from cameras inside the rocket's skirt, where the engines are. (We'll embed SpaceX's live feed below once it's available.)

The up-close cameras have provided stunning footage of past Starship flights, like the below footage of SN9.

In the meantime, a few rocket enthusiasts and fans of the company are broadcasting live from Boca Chica.

NASASpaceflight broadcasters are likely to cover the critical static-fire engine test. It's unclear when that will happen, but the earliest opportunity is Wednesday.

LabPadre, a YouTube channel from Louis Balderas, who lives just across the bay from Boca Chica, offers six unique views of the Starship launch site. Below is the channel's main 4K-resolution feed.

For a more distant view of the launch site broadcast from the top of a hotel resort in South Padre Island about 6 miles away check out SPadre's 24-hour live feed.

This post has been updated with new information. It was originally published on Monday, April 19, 2021.

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SpaceX is preparing to test-fly a new Starship after the last 4 exploded - Business Insider