SpaceX’s Starship launched on its fourth uncrewed flight test Thursday from the company’s private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever built launched Thursday and achieved key objectives laid out for its fourth test flight that demonstrated the vehicle’s reusability. The highly anticipated event was the company’s second uncrewed test of 2024. Launch occurred from the private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50 a.m. CT , and the company streamed live coverage on X, formerly known as Twitter, drawing millions of viewers.
administrator Bill Nelson also took to X to share a post celebrating the flight. “Congratulations @SpaceX on Starship’s successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis—then looking onward to Mars,” Nelson posted. New flight, new goals The launch was initially expected to occur at 7:20 a.m. CT , but SpaceX’s red team was sent in to fix a ground-side issue, which caused the delay, according to the company’s livestream.
’s Commercial Crew Program, Boeing, successfully launched the first crewed mission of Starliner, which is carrying two veteran astronauts to the International Space Station. Each of Starship’s test flights have different objectives that build on lessons learned and milestones achieved during the previous flight. The Starship team made software and hardware upgrades to the launch system to incorporate lessons learned from the third flight. “The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon,” according to SpaceX.
has selected the Starship spacecraft for a key role in its Artemis program to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than five decades. Under the federal space agency’s current road map, Starship would complete the final leg of a crewed mission to the moon, taking the astronauts from a spacecraft in lunar orbit and ferrying them to the surface.
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SpaceX’s fourth Starship launchesAndrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
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