See you in December on Starship’s first orbital flight?

The first orbital test flight of Starship could take place in December. The end of the year promises to be a busy one for SpaceX.

Starship’s first orbital test flight could finally take place next month. Mark Kirasich, one of NASA’s executives for the development of the Artemis lunar program, disclosed the information during a meeting of the NASA Advisory Board. As reported by Reuters, the man explained that NASA is currently considering four major Starship flights. The first one may take place in early December.

Starship’s first orbital test flight could take place in December

According to a schedule previously released by SpaceX, the Super Heavy-powered Starship spacecraft will lift off from downtown Boca Chica in Texas. The booster will separate three minutes after liftoff and fall back into the Gulf of Mexico while the Starship enters orbit before descending to land in the ocean near Hawaii. The company estimates that this first test flight should last around 90 minutes.

SpaceX has been planning this first Starship orbital flight since mid-2021, but has had to delay it several times due to technical issues or regulatory reasons. For example, the Boca Chica Launch Center only recently passed an FAA environmental assessment. And even then, the FAA required the company to make over 75 changes, more or less significant, to reduce the environmental impact of its flights before granting the company a license to launch the site.

End of the year promises to be busy for SpaceX

An FAA spokesman told Reuters that the agency would grant the license to the company “only after SpaceX has provided all the requested information and the agency has been able to fully analyze it.”SpaceX also needs to conduct additional pre-flight testing, including static fire testing of 33 Super Heavy launch vehicle Raptor engines, according to SpaceNews.

Such a test, conducted in July last year, ended in a fire after fuel caught fire under the first floor. SpaceX’s next attempt in August went better, but the company fired only one Raptor engine on the booster. In addition, Starship has yet to go through a dress rehearsal with the rocket in full launch configuration, all fuel and oxidizer tanks filled, and a countdown that stops about thirty seconds before the actual launch to detect a possible anomaly.

SpaceX will do many Starship test flights, including an uncrewed moon landing, before landing astronauts there, Kirasich said. But the first time it will dock with Orion is during the Artemis III mission in lunar orbit.

— Christian Davenport (@wapodavenport) October 31, 2022