Starship Flight 5 is ready to take off, says Elon Musk

SpaceX’s Flight 5 spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are fully stacked and just a day away from launch, and CEO Elon Musk says the company is looking forward to making its first-ever booster capture attempt.

“Looks like Starship is flying on Sunday! “This is the largest and most powerful flying object ever built, with more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V moon rocket,” Musk wrote on X late Friday. “We will try to catch it as it returns to the launch site by we use the Mechazilla arms like giant chopsticks (like Karate Kid)!”

While SpaceX hopes to snag the super-heavy carrier, the company could opt for a “soft landing” in the Gulf of Mexico if anything bad develops for the flight.

“SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months of testing to attempt the launch vehicle, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances of success. “We will not accept compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public.” “Our team will succeed, and return will only be attempted if the conditions are right,” SpaceX wrote in a mission overview.

“Thousands of different vehicle and pad criteria must be met before a Super Heavy booster return and capture attempt, which requires functional systems on the booster and tower as well as a manual command from the mission flight controller,” SpaceX added. “If this command is not sent before the boostback burn completes, or if automatic health checks reveal unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the turret, the booster will default to a trajectory that will lead it to a landing burn and a gentle water drop in the Gulf of Mexico.”

SpaceX and Cameron County officials have issued a sonic boom warning to residents surrounding the company’s starbase so they can expect the loud booms of the Super Heavy’s return.

The FAA clears SpaceX to launch the Starship on October 13th

SpaceX is officially “GO” to launch the Starship Flight 5 test flight for its new mega rocket after receiving a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Launch is scheduled for Sunday, October 13th at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT).

“The FAA has issued a license amendment authorizing SpaceX to launch multiple Starship/Super Heavy vehicle missions on the Flight 5 mission profile,” FAA officials wrote in a statement today (Oct. 12). “The FAA has determined that SpaceX meets all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight.”

For this test flight, SpaceX will launch the Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle, which together are the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, and attempt to return the launch vehicle to its launch pad at the company’s Starbase facility and launch it using SpaceX’s giant arms to capture its “Mechazilla” pad structure. The Starship rocket, meanwhile, will fly on a path that takes it over the Indian Ocean, where SpaceX hopes for a smooth re-entry and a “soft landing” in the ocean.

SpaceX aims to launch Starship Flight 5 on October 13th

SpaceX announced on Friday, October 11th that its next Starship rocket could launch as early as Sunday, October 13th, subject to final regulatory approvals from the FAA. The start is planned at the earliest October 13, 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT).if the approvals are received on time. A live stream of the launch will be available on this page at launch time.

The upcoming test flight, called Starship Flight 5, will launch from SpaceX’s Starbase test site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas – the same location as four previous Starship launch tests. This flight is intended to build on the success of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 4 on June 6, which became the first spacecraft to reach space and provided a gentle “soft” impact of the rocket’s massive Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico.

For Flight 5, SpaceX hopes to replicate the success of the Starship vehicle’s trajectory to its destination in the Indian Ocean. But first, SpaceX will also try to bring the rocket’s massive Super Heavy carrier, powered by 33 Raptor engines, back to the launch pad. There, SpaceX will attempt to capture the launch vehicle in the “rods” of its giant Mechazilla launch pad structure. The system is designed to ultimately enable rapid turnaround of Starship Super Heavy boosters for flights.

“The Starship is about to complete its fifth flight test,” SpaceX wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday afternoon (October 11). “We assume that official approval will be granted in time on October 13th.”

SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk have repeatedly said they have been ready to launch Starship Flight 5 since August, but have been held up by FAA audits and proposed fines related to environmental concerns over the rocket’s water flooding system.

Last month, the FAA said it would likely take until November to issue a license to launch Starship Flight 5, pending additional reviews related to the water flooding system, for which FAA officials have requested consultation with other regulators. Meanwhile, SpaceX also faces possible $633,000 in FAA fines related to Falcon 9 rocket launches. SpaceX has expressed anger over both the Starship Flight 5 delays and the potential fines, threatening to sue the FAA in the latter case.

“We are defaulting for unwarranted and vexatious reasons,” SpaceX wrote in a September 10 blog post. “Unfortunately, we continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to complete the government paperwork to authorize a rocket launch than it does.” This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as a leader in space.

When fully assembled, SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle stand approximately 400 feet (122 m) tall, making them the tallest and most powerful rocket in the world. Both the Starship and its super-heavy booster are designed to be reusable, although the Flight 5 mission does not involve recovering the Starship vehicle.

NASA has selected SpaceX’s Starship as the lunar lander for its Artemis 3 mission, which aims to send up to four astronauts to the moon for a crewed landing sometime in 2026. SpaceX has also sold at least one Starship flight to American billionaire Jared Isaacman, making reservations for another spacecraft trip around the moon. A Starship orbit flight reserved by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa was canceled earlier this year.

We will post updates here on Starship Flight 5 and subsequent test flights and missions as events warrant.