![Ship 28 is seen after being moved to SpaceX's launch site in South Texas.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ship-28-800x599.jpg)
SpaceX
Only one month after the second flight of its massive Starship rocket, SpaceX is making progress toward a 3rd attempt.
On Wednesday, at 1:37 pm local time in South Texas, the corporate performed a static fire test of the following Starship—which bears the serial number Ship 28. The test of the rocket’s six engines gave the impression to be nominal because the Raptors ignited for a handful of seconds. The rocket and ground support equipment looked undamaged after the test.
Also this week SpaceX rolled the booster for use for the following attempt—Booster 10—to the launch site at its Starbase facility in South Texas. The vehicle has since been lifted onto the orbital launch mount. Presumably this rocket, too, will undergo a static fire test in the approaching days.
After these tests are complete the Starship upper stage is more likely to be stacked on top of the booster to finish the launch vehicle. At this point it seems likely that the hardware for “Integrated Flight Test 3” could be substantially able to launch.
With this third flight, SpaceX will seek to fly further right into a profile that can see Starship ultimately make a controlled landing into the ocean north of Kauai, Hawaii. SpaceX may additionally perform an in-space propellant transfer test, but this has not been confirmed.
Starship’s second launch attempt, on November 18, was notably more successful than the primary attempt in April 2023. The second flight test demonstrated substantial improvements in engine reliability and provided precious data a couple of difficult “hot staging” maneuver to separate the Super Heavy booster from the Starship upper stage.
One other test flight soon?
Recently Kathy Lueders, SpaceX’s general manager for the Starbase launch site near Brownsville, said the corporate will goal the primary quarter of next 12 months for this third test flight. “It will be great if we were in the primary quarter, definitely,” she said. “Elon [Musk] obviously would probably say the tip of December, but I don’t think we’ll get there.”
For the reason that second test flight occurred, neither the corporate nor SpaceX founder Elon Musk has provided a technical update on what ultimately went improper with the Starship upper stage, which failed a number of minutes into its flight, or why the booster was ultimately lost after it separated from the Starship vehicle.
![Booster 10, with a few holiday decorations, is rolled to the launch site in South Texas.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/booster-10-980x734.jpg)
SpaceX
Nevertheless, far fewer modifications have been made to the rocket hardware or the launch site ahead of this third attempt, suggesting that at the very least among the problems can have been flight software-related.
SpaceX has yet to receive regulatory approval for a 3rd launch of Starship. The Federal Aviation Administration characterised the second attempt in November as a “mishap,” while acknowledging that no injuries or public property damage were reported.
After the anomaly, the agency said, via the social media site X, that “the FAA will oversee the @SpaceX-led mishap investigation to make sure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements.” The FAA has provided no additional information within the month since then.