This Week in Launches: Could this be the week for Starship?

This week is a rather slow one with two launches scheduled for SpaceX‘s Falcon 9, yes they’re for Starlink. However, pending regulatory approval, the week could finish with the second launch of the company’s Starship rocket.

This week’s launches:

• Wednesday, November 15
  • CASC Long March 2C Unknown Payload, 11:00 P.M. ET
    • SLS-2, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
• Thursday, November 16
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Group 6-28, 11:00 P.M. ET
    • SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
• Friday, November 17
  • SpaceX Starship ITF-2, 7:00 A.M. CT
    • Orbital Launch Pad A, Starbase, Texas
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Group 7-7, TBD
    • SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

Is this the week we see Starship fly?

SpaceX is gearing up for another flight of its Starship launch system. They just have to wait on the FAA to approve its launch license’s amendment.

Starship’s Integrated Flight Test-2, or Starship Flight 2, Flight 2, or just “the next one” is currently slated for no earlier than November 17. This mission will feature changes in staging and the launch pad, implement after April’s inaugural Starship launch.

The flight profile will be similar to what would have seen earlier this year if that rocket survived. It wouldn’t reach orbit, but it would reach space and make almost a complete orbit. The Super Heavy booster will make a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico while the Starship vehicle will reenter and plash off the coast of Hawaii.

Any second launch of a failed first launch has a much higher chance of success. However, there is still a lot of unknowns. First off, SpaceX completely redesigned the staged separation system of Starship, there could be new issues found there. This will also be Starship’s first reentry, testing the vehicle’s thermal protection system in the real world for the first time.

Like with all SpaceX test flights, there is one thing that the company guarantees, and that’s excitement.

All of this however, is reliant on the FAA approving SpaceX for another launch. Right now, the agency is just waiting on the Fish and Wildlife’s environmental review of SpaceX’s pad infrastructure changes.

If Starship doesn’t happen, it will be a slow week

Outside of Starship, not much is happening this week.

China will launch first with an unknown payload on a Long March 2C rocket out of Jiuquan. SpaceX will follow up with at least one Starlink mission from SLC-40 and a second possible one Friday from California.

SpaceX is still getting off a three launches in just a handful of days so the company could be letting its employees rest a few days before they return to launching ever three to four days. In total, SpaceX has launched 84 times this year, 83 times for Falcon rockets.