The first orbital test flight of the Starship SN20 was originally scheduled for next February. Unfortunately, the prolonged investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), led by Wayne Monteith, forces SpaceX to postpone this deadline.
The Starship SN20 prototype performed a new pre-burn test of its Raptor engines this Wednesday, December 29 from the Starbase, Texas site in preparation for future static firing followed by a first orbital test flight. During this test, we will finally see the ship take off for the first time above its Super Heavy booster. When could this flight take place?
A few weeks ago, SpaceX set this goal for January or February 2022 , provided the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) completes its environmental assessment (PEA) of the launch site by December 31. Unfortunately, we will have to patent a little longer than expected.
This Tuesday, December 28, the FAA announced that it had postponed the publication of its final report to February 28 next . As a reminder, this agency is responsible for regulations and controls concerning civil aviation in the United States. In this specific case, it is she who gives the green light or not to SpaceX for the Starship test flights after having defined a "no-passage" zone around the take-off and landing sites. To justify this report, the government body points to "the high volume of comments submitted on the project (over 18,000) and "discussions and consultation efforts with consultative parties “.
At the end of this evaluation, three outcomes are possible:either the FAA publishes a "finding of zero impact ", i.e. a "mitigated impact finding “, in which case SpaceX will have to make some adjustments. Finally, it is also possible that the FAA will reject SpaceX's request, which would likely delay the Starship program by several years.
If all goes as planned and this test flight remains scheduled for next spring , the Super Heavy will fly over the Gulf of Mexico shortly after takeoff before returning to touchdown, while the Starship will loop around the Earth before touching down off the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
If successful, we know that this fully reusable ship will be able to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars. However, Elon Musk sees even further. Indeed, this interplanetary ship could also radically change the way we explore the Solar System.
