After almost a month and a half of tests, fixes, and red tap SpaceX finally got a chance to fly Starship SN9 to its 10 km test flight. This following their SN8 flight test in the beginning of December which marked the first flight of a fully assembled Starship prototype vehicle. While ending in similar fashions, the cause of the failed landings is different but not concerning.
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The saga of getting Starship SN9 to launch continues after the FAA, which oversees commercial space launch licenses, did not approve SpaceX’s request to launch last week. This pushes the nearest possible launch opportunity to this week. In the meantime, SpaceX kept teams busy by bringing the next Starship prototype to its pad to begin testing.
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SpaceX’s Starship SN9 was supposed to be a quick turnaround from SN8 that flew at the beginning of December. Instead the next-gen rocket prototype has seen several setbacks including needing to conduct several static fires to insure the Raptor engines and the vehicle itself are ready. Now Starship SN9’s time has finally come.
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Remember when SpaceX’s Starship SN9 was supposed to be a quick static fire then 12.5 km hop? Yeah, seems like that is fully out the window for this vehicle at least. Another week went by full of hope to see a flight by the end of the week, but again we are back to waiting for a static fire to be completed.
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The Federal Aviation Administration has granted a temporary flight restriction (TFR) for Brownsville, Texas, that gives the correct clearance for SpaceX to attempt its second-ever Starship 12.5 km flight. Starship serial number 9 (SN9) is set to fly — and potentially even land in one piece — as soon as Friday, January 8.
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SpaceX is working hard to get Starship SN9 ready to fly the next 12.5 km flight early this month, but there are still a few tests that need to be done prior to the next milestone.
Production at SpaceX’s Starship facility in Boca Chica, Texas, has increased with SN10 receiving its nose cone and SN11 having all of its fuel tanks stacked. Alongside the progressing next vehicles to fly are scattered ring sections ready to be assembled into SN12 and beyond. SpaceX seems to have no shortage of Starships to continue testing after SN9’s flight — even if it doesn’t survive the landing again.
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Morgan Stanley published a research note this week following the first high-altitude test flight of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle. The investment firm describes the test flight of SpaceX’s Starship serial number 8 prototype rocket as “a major leap forward in the U.S. space program” for at least three reasons:
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