5 hours Ago By Anan Ashraf
Elon Musk ‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX on Friday postponed the sixth flight test of its Starship launch vehicle to November 19. What Happened: Earlier this month, SpaceX pegged the sixth text flight of Starship for Nov. 18.
However, the company postponed it by a day to Tuesday on Friday and said the 30-minute launch window would open at 4:00 pm CT. For the next test flight, the company aims to catch Starship's booster back at the launch site as on the last flight and splash down the upper stage in the Indian Ocean. Past Flights: On Starship’s fifth flight test in October , it lifted off from Starbase, and the booster returned to Earth after propelling Starship to space.
The booster was subsequently caught by the launch tower at Starbase. The Starship, meanwhile, went on to space and splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean. The recovery of the booster was a key objective of the flight test and demonstrated the reusability of the Starship’s design.
SpaceX is aiming to make the Starship a completely reusable spacecraft that can fly multiple times, thereby reducing the cost of spaceflight. Why It Matters: Starship is key to NASA's dreams of taking humans back to the surface of the Moon. NASA's Artemis 3 mission slated to launch no earlier than September 2026 is expected to enable humans to land back on the surface of the moon with the help of the Starship human landing system.
The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 with Apollo 17 . Since then, no crew has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit. Musk, meanwhile, is eyeing taking humans to Earth's neighboring planet Mars aboard the Starship.
In September, he said that the first Starship launch to Mars is expected in 2026 and that it will not have a crew on board. Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Read Next: Ford Cuts Capri, Explorer EV Output Due To ‘Significantly Lower Than Expected Demand’ After Pausing F-150 Lightning Production Image via Flickr © 2024 Benzinga.
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