SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on his Twitter a photo of Starship SN24 for the first orbital flight in the High Bay manufacturing facility and shared an update on the timing of the flight test program.
The founder and CEO of SpaceX said that on June 13 he personally visited Mega Bay and High Bay, where the Super Heavy and Starship compilation is being held. Following the inspection, Elon Musk said that while maintaining the current pace of work, the system – the Starship SN24 spacecraft and the super-heavy first degree Super Heavy B7 for it – will be ready for the first orbital flight as early as July.
Starship SN24 in the High Baypic.twitter.com/vDZ4yBV1MF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2022
The technical readiness of the system for flight does not at all mean that the launch itself will take place in July – SpaceX has yet to complete all 75 measures that the FAA requires from it and obtain a launch license. However, there is a good chance that SpaceX will be able to launch before the end of the summer of 2022, as planned for the past few months. If not, it is very likely that it will take place before the end of 2022.
We will have a second Starship stack ready to fly in August and then monthly thereafter
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2022
In another tweet, Elon Musk said that as early as August, SpaceX expects to have the next system (S25 and SH B8) in flight readiness, and subsequent improved ship and booster pairs monthly. This coincides with the company’s previous plans – at the end of 2021, Elon Musk expressed doubt in an interview that Starship would reach orbit the first time, but at the same time stressed that he was “confident” in achieving this goal in 2022 and expects to complete up to a dozen test Starship launches in 2022 to complete the test program and move on to launching real payloads in 2023. Back then, SpaceX was aiming for January 2022 with the first orbital launch of Starship, so the schedule moved down by at least half a year.
Read more about the main milestones in the development of the program and prospects in our yesterday’s material.
The U.S. regulator has given SpaceX the green light for the first Starship orbital flight from Starbase in Texas. It could take place before the end of the summer.
