Starship is scheduled to launch from Starbase on Monday (Jan. 13) at 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT). It will be the seventh test flight for the giant rocket, which SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle Mars and achieve a variety of other exploration feats.
SpaceX is also flying rudimentary catch fittings on Starship to test their thermal performance on reentry. The ship will fly a more demanding trajectory during descent to probe the structural limits of the redesigned flaps at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure, according to SpaceX.
The direct-to-cell Starlink system in Southern California will deliver wireless emergency alerts and power SMS texting to 911 services.
SpaceX's Starship will fly for the seventh time ever early next week, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX announced today (Jan. 8) that it's targeting Monday (Jan. 13) for Flight 7 of Starship, the 400-foot-tall (122 meters), fully reusable megarocket designed to help humanity settle the moon and Mars.
SpaceX has quickly become something of a taxi service for space travel, allowing private companies and governments alike to affordably send satellites into orbit for research and commercial purposes. The frequent launches have reportedly become something of a nightmare for those who live near the launch sites, however.
SpaceX is gearing up to launch Starship for its seventh test flight, attempting to deploy Starlink mock-ups from the rocket for the first time. Starship is set for liftoff as early as Friday, January 10,
On Friday, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites is set to take off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX completed its first launch from Kennedy Space Center for the year on Wednesday morning. A Falcon 9 carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off at 10:27 a.m. Eastern time from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A.
The launch will take place at 10:27 a.m. at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where a Falcon 9 rocket will carry the satellites into space.
The Space Coast is in for a possible double-header. Hours after New Glenn launches on its first flight, SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9.