Earlier this week, SpaceX's Super Heavy launch vehicle and Starship spacecraft completed a full fuel test, indicating the system is ready for a third test flight. Now in the SpaceX account on the social network X there is a link for a live broadcast of the launch of a giant rocket, which is scheduled to take place on March 14.
Note that despite the aforementioned SpaceX publication, Elon Musk’s company has yet to obtain permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct the next launch of the Starship system. Last month, information appeared that the regulator required 17 changes, including 7 to the design of the first stage of the launch vehicle and 10 to the design of the ship. The need to make a number of changes to the Starship design was confirmed during a study of the causes of the explosion of the carrier and ship during a previous test flight.
Despite this, SpaceX demonstrated Starship's readiness for the upcoming flight. This week, the fully assembled 122-meter rocket underwent a fueling test, one of the last before launch. During the test, SpaceX specialists pumped 4.5 thousand tons of liquid methane fuel and oxygen into the tanks. Since this process took place without incident, we can judge that the rocket is completely ready for the next flight.
The previous flight of Starship took place on November 18, 2023 and ended in an explosion, and the rocket first took off on April 20, 2023, but that launch was also interrupted due to an emergency situation. Over these months, SpaceX has made numerous changes not only to the design of the first stage of the launch vehicle, but also to the architecture of the launch pad at its base in Texas.
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