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Elon Musk vowed the world would launch a second Starship “within months” after the first flight in April – and the billionaire is keeping his promise.
SpaceX filed a permit with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, asking for permission to operate starting June 15 — but anytime until December 15.
The document states that the purpose of the mission is an “experimental orbital demo and recovery test of the Starship test vehicle,” suggesting the world could see the craft leave our planet.
This was the goal of the first launch, which took a turn when the A 395-foot stack failed to separate four minutes after launch.
While April’s launch is considered a success — Musk had only hoped to get Starship off the launch pad — the massive explosion caused damage that must be repaired before SpaceX can make its next epic attempt at glory.
SpaceX applied for a license from the Federal Communications Commission on Monday. Elon Musk had said the second launch would take place within a few months of the first flight in April
The massive 395-foot stack, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and Starship, launched at 9:33 a.m. ET for its first orbital launch, but burst into flames four minutes after liftoff.
As Elon Musk’s company activated the flight termination system, the massive Super Heavy craft failed to separate, sending it into an uncontrolled deadly spin.
The result wasn’t ideal, but Elon Musk, NASA and the SpaceX team are celebrating success – the main goal was to get Starship off the launch pad.
SpaceX Principal Integration Engineer John Insprucker said during the company’s livestream in April, “This was a development test.
“It’s Starship’s first test flight. And the goal is to collect the data and, as we said, clear the path and get it ready to go again.
So you never quite know what’s going to happen. But as we promised, thrills are guaranteed. And Starship gave us quite a spectacular ending to what has been a really incredible test so far.”
The process of how SpaceX got from April to now is unclear, but the company had said its engineers would analyze every piece of data collected from the first launch to improve the second.
Musk also revealed that several Starship missiles are waiting in the wings for their chance to shine.
While April’s launch is considered a success — Musk had only hoped to get Starship off the launch pad — the massive explosion caused damage that must be repaired before SpaceX can make its next epic attempt at glory.
Elon Musk vowed the world would see a second Starship launch ‘within months’ after the first flight in April — and the billionaire is keeping his promise
The only hurdle SpaceX has yet to overcome is the damage to the launch pad, which looked like a war zone after the Starship lifted off.
Starship “left a large crater in the concrete under the launch pad,” Spaceflight Now said in a tweet that included several photos of the debris-strewn path, adding that the orbital mount was “severely damaged.”
Max Evans, a photographer for NASASpaceflight.com, also documented some of the damage.
“It’s hard to imagine this site being usable again in a 12 month timeline – I’d love to be proven wrong,” Evans tweeted in a thread.
Engineer and space entrepreneur Jonathan Goff was a little more optimistic about how long the repair might take, though not much.
“I think with the damage to the platform and the need to rework the launch infrastructure, we are probably at least 7-9 months away from our next SS/SH (Starship and Super Heavy) flight of any sort. 1 year to get to a fully orbital and successful flight was very optimistic,” Goff wrote on social media
Elon Musk’s Starship rocket took off from South Texas at 9:33 a.m. ET for the first flight that would have completed a near-circle of the Earth, but SpaceX claims it pulled the trigger that exploded Starship in midair as the two stages were separated failed
The only hurdle left for SpaceX is the damage to the launch pad, which looked like a war zone after the spacecraft lifted off
Despite the craft engulfed in flames, the SpaceX team reportedly cracked champagne bottles and chanted “go Starship” after the explosion.
The company’s leadership — including Musk — has repeatedly emphasized the experimental nature of the launch, saying that any outcome that saw Starship get off the launch pad would be a success.
The mission would always end with the destruction of the Starship rocket, which would have to orbit the Earth for about an hour before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
But any setbacks will still be extremely costly. Musk has said the entire program will cost somewhere between $3 billion and $10 billion.
But Musk himself braced for a launch failure, claiming last month that there was a 50 percent chance his spacecraft could explode during the test flight.
The billionaire congratulated the SpaceX team on Twitter about 20 minutes after the spacecraft burst into flames.
Musk tweeted, “Congratulations @SpaceX team on an exciting Starship test launch! Learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.’
SpaceX then shared on Twitter that its team will review the data and work on a new flight for the rocket.
“As if the flight test wasn’t exciting enough, Starship experienced a quick unplanned disassembly before the stages separated,” SpaceX tweeted.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX tries to make life multi-planetary.”