SpaceX
SpaceX apparently testing Starship 5 before Starship 4 launch
SpaceX has a Starship 4 launch scheduled for May and the new movement on Starbase suggests that the company is apparently preparing for Starship 5 tests.
Visuals coming from NASASpaceFlight show that a new Starship spacecraft is rolling to the launch test site at Starbase. The vehicle is expected to be the Starship 30, which could be used for Starship test flight 5.
Information suggests that the company is rolling this new ship to perform a static fire test and other system checks related to the flight launch. However, SpaceX has not confirmed the Starship 5 rollout as of the time of writing this article. It may be Starship 4 but we’ll have to wait for more confirmation.
Ship 30 roll: The Ship for Flight 5 rolling down Highway 4 to the launch site for its Static Fire test.
Live: https://t.co/Q6RrwSL4fH pic.twitter.com/OVU6R5KGt5
— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) May 1, 2024
Starship 4
This brings us back to the Starship 4 spacecraft which completed a full-duration static fire test of all six Raptor engines. Within the last three flights, Space only conducted static fire for the second stage.
The company however wants to achieve an on-orbit engine relight of a single raptor engine. Therefore, It followed a single-engine static fire test on the next day of Six engine ignition. In April, Super Heavy participated in the static fire test with its 33 Raptor engines.
This static fire suggests that SpaceX is ready to send the Starship into orbit for the fourth time. Starship test flight 4 has a major milestone to perform landing in planned splash zones on virtual towers.
Starship Flight 4 (Image Source – SpaceX)
That’s the only place Starship 3 fell off and lost contact before the final landing. It could take the vehicle a few more flights to master the landing, which is a key practice for reusability. Previous reports suggest that SpaceX could attempt to land Starship on a real launch tower if it succeeds in virtual landing with Starship 4.
SpaceX is currently planning to launch Starship test flight 4 by this month. However, it awaits a launch approval from FAA.