SpaceX is targeting the first launch of the most powerful rocket ever built after receiving clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday.
“After a comprehensive licensing evaluation process, the FAA has determined that SpaceX has met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integrity, and financial liability requirements,” the agency said in a statement.
Consisting of the Super Heavy booster first stage and upper stage spacecraft, the spacecraft will blast off from the SpaceX Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, for its first orbital flight.
The prospective flight will be relatively short, several minutes after departure, the Starship will separate from the first stage of the Super Heavy Booster.
As the Starship continues into orbit, the booster will descend into the Gulf of Mexico. It will not be recovered, but future missions will see the booster make a controlled landing at the base so that it can be reused on future missions.
The spacecraft is expected to reach an altitude of about 146 miles (235 kilometers) before descending and landing in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff.
As with the Super Heavy, there will be no recovery, though future flights will attempt to land the vehicle so it can be used again.
The sheer power of the Super Heavy means that the launch is sure to be a stunning spectacle.
When the 395-foot (120-meter) Super Heavy explodes, its 33 Raptor engines will create 17 million pounds of thrust.
The current record is held by NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which generated 8.8 million pounds of thrust when it first blasted off last November on the Artemis I mission that sent the uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the moon.
And it’s much more powerful than the Saturn V, a rocket that generated about 7.6 million pounds of thrust during the launches that sent the Apollo astronauts to the moon five decades ago.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk has acknowledged that since this will be the Starship’s first flight, it may not go according to plan.
“I’m not saying it’s going to orbit, but I guarantee it’s exciting – it won’t be boring,” Musk said last month, “hoping about 50 percent to get into orbit.”
SpaceX describes the spacecraft as “a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.”
With testing like this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the likelihood of future success as SpaceX rapidly advances Starship development.”
