Space company SpaceX has received the green light from the US Federal Aviation Administration for the first orbital test flight of the Starship and Super Heavy rocket. The launch is scheduled to take place on April 17.
If no problems occur, the test flight of the integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket will take place on Monday, April 17 from the launch pad in Texas. The launch of the rocket is expected to start at 2 p.m. Dutch time, with a launch window of 2.5 hours. The SpaceX live stream starts at 1:15 PM. If the launch cannot go ahead, it will reportedly be rescheduled for Tuesday April 18 or Wednesday April 19.
ARS Technica reports that, according to the FAA, SpaceX now meets all requirements on the in terms of safety, environment, payload, financial responsibility and more. Elon Musk’s space company then received a permit that is valid for five years. SpaceX has been working for years on this federal approval to launch the Super Heavy-and-Starship combination from Texas. According to the FAA, SpaceX has now “done what it was supposed to do with respect to environmental impact.” Previously, the space company was only allowed to test prototypes of the rocket. It is the first time that the rocket combination can be launched.
The two-part system is 120 meters high in total, making it the largest rocket ever launched. The Starship rocket must reach an altitude of 235 kilometers to “close to orbit.” About 1.5 hours after launch, the Starship rocket should end up in the ocean about 225 kilometers north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
