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The first day of November was a good day. The weather was nice in most of the USA. If you got up early on the west coast and tuned into a livestream you got to see the fourth SpaceX Falcon Heavy carry a payload to space. This is big rocket!
November 1 launch of two Space Force satellites on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. It is the first time the big rocket has flown in three years. (Credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX will tell you this is just three Falcon-9 boosters strapped together to carry a larger payload to space. But don’t forget this is only the fourth time they have launched what is the biggest rocket in operation. Two secret Space Force satellites were the payload of this fourth flight.
First flight of the Falcon Heavy in February 2018. (Credit: SpaceX)
The first launch of a Falcon Heavy in 2018 was fun to watch. I was there to report for ABC News on this return to heavy launch. Even close up, three miles away, one not only hears the roar of all those engines, the shocks to the air hit your chest. Basically, your chest rattles. You might remember this launch because Elon Musk sent his Tesla Roadster toward Mars. Can you say marketing?
The ballast cargo for the Falcon Heavy test fight was Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster and a mannequin. (Credit: SpaceX)
Next month SpaceX hopes to launch an even larger space vehicle. This is a really big rocket. It’s the spacecraft Elon Musk hopes to use to take someone to Mars. In the meantime, he will use his big booster rocket and Starship to return American astronauts to the surface of the moon. Can I tweet that? I have a blue check mark, for now.
That’s what makes the first day of November interesting. But early December could be a game changer. The Falcon Heavy may seem quaint if SpaceX makes orbit with its Starship.
SpaceX super heavy booster with a Starship stacked on top in Boca Chica, Texas. (Credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX is not the best at explaining specifics about its progress and plans. But since the company is significantly funded by you, the taxpayer, we learn through task forces, committees, and oversight boards about what is happening with your money.
There are two parts to the Starship. The super-heavy booster is the first stage that pushes the Starship into obit. The booster will return to Earth like we have seen so many SpaceX boosters come back and land.
The Starship is the spaceship. It is what SpaceX sold to NASA to land American astronauts back on the moon. It has not made it to orbit yet.
Part of a SpaceX animation on what a Starship flight would look like. (Credit: SpaceX)
Mark Kirasich, a deputy associate administrator at NASA, told an advisory committee this week that Starship’s first orbital flight could come early next month. That early December flight would be less than one full orbit. The Starship would launch from Boca Chica, Texas and splash down just past Hawaii.
Kirasich works on the Artemis program to put Americans back on the Moon. He says the first test is one of four flights NASA is keeping a close eye on. The second test flight would determine if propellant can be shared between vehicles in orbit. Starship will need refueling to go to the moon. The third mission is a long-duration flight. As for the the fourth flight, Kirasich was not specific about the mission profile.
NASA's Mark Kirasich who works on the Aretmis program and revealed SpaceX's Starship orbital test flight could come in a month. (Credit NASA)
All this to get to the moon. Kirasich says the plan is for an, “uncrewed landing demonstration being late in calendar 2024, leading to the human landing in 2025.”
Kirasich admits Space X is a bit behind. That first orbital flight was supposed to happen this past summer. The company had a problem. The NASA official calls it a “high energy event.” You might call it an explosion, or at least a big fire.
When loading a rocket with fuel and oxidizer, some of that super-cold oxidizer (oxygen in this case) boils off. A bunch of fuel was released into that cloud of oxygen, and kaboom.
SpaceX has been known for moving quickly in development of its rockets. Kirasich said SpaceX, “put speed above systems engineering rigor,” which led to the explosion. “They since elevated the level of systems engineering that they put into each one of these tests,” the NASA official said.
SpaceX still has milestones to meet, including a license from the FAA to launch. But one of the biggest rockets ever built could be launching before the holidays.
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(Cover image credit: SpaceX)