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regulator have give SpaceX the green Light Within to launch its super monolithic Starship rocket for a second clock time , just a few days shy of seven months after the first orbital flight psychometric test that ended in a striking mid - air blowup .
SpaceX — which has been on understudy for this final launch approval — will attempt the launch this Friday , November 17 , from its sprawling facility near Boca Chica , Texas . The two - time of day launch windowpane will start at 7:00 AM CST .
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it had grant SpaceX the launch license for a unmarried spaceship flight . On the same day , the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete a write rating of the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment finding “ no meaning environmental changes . ”
“ The FAA determined SpaceX meet all safety , environmental , policy and financial responsibility requirements , ” the government agency say in a financial statement .
The Eruca sativa has been groundedsince the April launch . Groundings and mischance investigation , which are direct by the launching companies and overseen by the FAA , are a common course when an anomaly happen during launch .
To say that this is long - await is a moment of an understatement . Although the first orbital flight test in April caused plenty of damage — most notably to the launching pad , which was cratered by the Super Heavy lifter ’s 33 Raptor engine — SpaceX managed to both fix the damage and promote both the launch infrastructure and rocket in just under seven months . While the company has been busy , it has n’t been shy about wait for the regulator to catch up . SpaceX ’s VP of habitus and flight dependableness Bill Gerstenmaiertold lawmakers last monththat Starship has been ready for its next flying trial run “ for more than a month , ” and that it was just wait on the multiple agency for their brushup .
To say that there is much horseback riding on Starship ’s development — well , that ’s also an understatement .
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Starship is the most powerful skyrocket ever made . Standing nearly 400 - feet - marvelous fully stacked , the rocket engine has two stage : a Super Heavy friend and an upper stage , also call Starship . In the nearer term , the rocket will shoot down human being on the lunation for NASA ’s Artemis III missionary post slate for 2025 , as part of contract topping out at around $ 4 billion ; in the long term , it ’s plan to fulfill SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ’s ambition to “ spread the light of consciousness to the universe ” — which is to say , colonise Mars .
But the company has hatful of work before of it . spaceship ’s first orbital trial flight was cut short shortly before microscope stage separation — when the Super Heavy booster shot separates from Starship — and the vehicle had to be exploded in mid - air over the Gulf of Mexico after it start tumbling back to Earth around four minutes after lift - off . The company had some issues with the booster ’s 33 methane - fueled Raptor engines , three of which did n’t fire at all and two more that were knocked out mid - flight .
But SpaceX say its premise upgrades to the engines , a new method to severalize the two stages and other improvements that will hopefully see this mission go farther than the first . Looking ahead , the company also require to check the computer code of in - electron orbit refueling , a key part of the Artemis computer architecture that involves Starship re - up on propellant while in sphere .
