The 17th of April is the current date set for the first flight test of Starship, pending regulatory approval.
SpaceX has confirmed the 17th of April as the big day for Starship Super-Heavy’s orbital debut. SpaceX has updated the ‘Launches’ section on its site, and Starship Super-Heavy along with the date of April 17th have been added under the ‘Upcoming’ subsection.
So, now what? Now wait, obviously. SpaceX had planned to conduct a Wet Dress Rehearsal on the 10th of April, with a backup of the 11th, but the road closures for those tests would be canceled, suggesting no major testing would take place.
The company would, on the 11th of April, confirm on its Twitter account, that Starship would proceed straight to launch and skip the WDR. To date, the Starship Super-Heavy full stack has completed one successful WDR.
In an earlier post, I had noted that B7 would be due to perform a final static fire, lighting all its engines at full power. Recall that the last static fire fired 31 engines of 33, the other two having shut down just before and during the event. It is clear now, that I was wrong. The next time B7 lights up its engines will be moments before it hopefully carries S24 to orbit.
It is worth noting that this date could slip. It being on the official SpaceX website sure inspires confidence, but it could still slip. The actual launch itself could take place later than the 17th, as they may abort several times before SpaceX is confident enough to light the candle. The likelihood of that is high, given that this will be the first ever orbital launch attempt for this vehicle.
But with all that said, these are truly exciting times. It has been coming for a long time. Now, we wait.🚀
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[Thumbnail image by SpaceX via Twitter]
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