![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230906-Starship-Full-Stack.jpg)
Greater than half a yr after its first flight, SpaceX believes it’s on the cusp of attending to launch its Starship rocket for a second time.
On Friday afternoon, the corporate updated its website to announce that the second integrated flight test (IFT-2) of it’s towering rocket “could launch as soon as mid-November, pending regulatory approval.” Sources suggest the launch could possibly be as soon as Nov. 13, but that’s removed from set in stone.
Those regulatory hurdles surrounding the fully reusable launch vehicle at the moment are mainly centered across the conclusion of an environmental review, which is within the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
Earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had concluded the Starship-Super Heavy safety review. In an announcement to Spaceflight Now, the agency said that “The environmental review is the last major element to finish before the FAA makes a license determination.”
SpaceX will debut plenty of upgrades to each the rocket itself in addition to the launch infrastructure, including their latest hot-stage separation system and an electronic Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system.
The FWS has been evaluating one in all the important thing upgrades since IFT-1: the water-cooled steel flame deflector aka the water deluge system.
Reached for comment early Friday morning, an FWS spokesperson said they didn’t have any updates to offer regarding their progress.
![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20231103_Starship_IFT-2_mission-plan.jpg)
Road to the Moon
As was the case with the IFT-1 mission earlier this yr, NASA has been eagerly watching the progress of Starship.
SpaceX only has a lot time to maneuver through evolutions of Starship before it’s needed to operate as the primary vehicle that will probably be a component of the Human Landing System Program inside the overall Artemis Program.
During 2024, SpaceX is anticipated to reveal its ability to transfer propellant from one Starship vehicle on orbit to a different, a key milestone needed inside the architecture of safely getting the spacecraft to the Moon, all the way down to the surface and back into lunar orbit.
“That will probably be a very key indicator as to their readiness level,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, the HLS Program Manager. “And once they get to that time, and once that’s achieved, it’s much smaller from there on out.”
That propellant transfer mission will even call upon not less than one additional orbital launch mount, which adds to the importance of having the ability to reveal either the success of the changes made or showcase what still must be adjusted.
Watson-Morgan told Spaceflight Now last month that this iterative approach may be tricky to step through, but makes things more simplified by the top of the testing campaign.
“And so what meaning is by the point they’re at the top of their test campaign, they’re just about able to fly. It’s more of a just, here’s the remaining of the documentation. Let’s go in and certify,” Watson-Morgan said. “So, while yes, these are early developmental flights, and so they’re not what the Human Landing System Starship will probably be, in that it doesn’t have our life support, it doesn’t have our comm system, it doesn’t have those features, but it surely remains to be very vital and required. So for us, schedule is essential.”
We’ll see when launch number two finally ends up on the schedule.