Starship Flight 7: SpaceX hits two launch readiness milestones

SpaceX has conducted two static fires in the last week as it prepares for its seventh Starship launch. So where do things stand with getting this next step in Starship development quite literally off the ground?

Booster 14

Last week we saw Booster 14 leave the production facility at SpaceX’s Starbase facility and move to the orbital launch pad a few miles down the road. The booster already underwent several non-propellant needed tests at the company’s test site at the old Massey’s gun range, so the only thing left was a static fire.

That’s exactly what happened last Monday after the booster was lifted onto the mount, firing all 33 of its Raptor engines for a few seconds to ensure everything works as intended. The booster has since been removed from the launch mount and returned to the production facility, where it will likely wait until it’s time to fly or needed for full stacking.

Booster 14 is still a Block 1 version of the Starship booster. So while for Flight 7 the ship portion of Starship will be of a new design, Block 2, the booster will be the same as we’ve seen in previous flights.

Ship 33

The brand-new ship was just recently moved to the Massey’s test site, where it completed several cryogenic tests and then a spin-prime test, which tests a certain portion of the Raptor engines.

Over the weekend, Ship 33 conducted its static fire test as well, making it and Booster 14 nearly ready to launch, whenever that date may show up.

So Flight 7 is happening when?

The most recent date we saw for Flight 7 was January 11; however, there’s a low chance that date will take place due to it being picked before Flight 6 took place.

There is no chance that Flight 7 will be happening before the new year, as there is still some more work to get done at the pad and likely on the rocket stages before they get the green light to fly. Although I’m sure we’ll see more activity with these stages before the year is up, even if it is just a full stack for photo op opportunities to say they’ll be ready in early January 2025.

Unlike Flight 6, SpaceX does not yet have FAA approval to launch Starship again. Also, according to the same document that gave us that January 11 date, it seems that SpaceX is once again attempting a suborbital flight and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Can things all change? Absolutely, however, that would likely mean an extended FAA review process before obtaining another single or double-use launch license.