SpaceX to launch last Version 2 Starship-Super Heavy from Starbase – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX is getting ready for a notable flight for its Starship program. The firm is scheduled to launch its Starship-Super Heavy rocket from its headquarters in Starbase, Texas, on Monday night.

The eleventh flight check of the built-in Starship launch automobile would be the last mission each for the Version 2 iteration of the rocket in addition to the present configuration of Pad A. SpaceX is concentrating on liftoff at 6:15 p.m. CDT (7:15 p.m. EDT / 2315 UTC).

Spaceflight Now could have stay protection starting about two hours previous to takeoff.



On Sunday night, SpaceX stated the climate outlook was 80 % favorable, however didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the meteorological constraints.

Starship Flight 11 will use the Super Heavy booster with the tail quantity B15. It’s making its second flight following the launch and catch SpaceX achieved throughout Flight 8 in March.

That was the third booster that SpaceX has caught with the launch tower at Pad A, nicknamed ‘Mechazilla’, following profitable catches throughout Flight 5 and Flight 7. SpaceX will reuse 24 out of the 33 Raptor 2 engines on B15 through the Flight 11 mission.

Following the hot-staging maneuver to separate Starship (S38) from B15 about 2.5 minutes into the mission, the booster will carry out a brand new engine configuration through the touchdown burn because it targets an aquatic touchdown off shore.

B15 will start the burn with the 13 center and heart engines after which transition down to 5 engines, as an alternative of three.

“Previously done with three engines, the planned baseline for V3 Super Heavy will use five engines during the section of the burn responsible for fine-tuning the booster’s path, adding additional redundancy for spontaneous engine shutdowns,” SpaceX stated forward of the launch.

Like with the Flight 10 mission, SpaceX will try and deploy eight metal constructions meant to duplicate the scale and mass of future Starlink Version 3 satellites. Given it is a suborbital flight, the Starlink simulators will observe the same trajectory and find yourself within the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX may even try a relight of one of many sea-level Raptor engines through the coast section of S38. This is supposed to show that future variations of Starship can safely deorbit themselves following a mission in addition to increase their orbit earlier than deploying a payload.

More than an hour after liftoff, S38 will goal a water touchdown within the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia.



SpaceX deliberately eliminated warmth defend tiles to study extra in regards to the stress factors of the automobile. It may even be working to study extra about the kind of flight maneuvers wanted for future orbital flights the place Starship could be returning to Starbase.

“To mimic the path a ship will take on future flights returning to Starbase, the final phase of Starship’s trajectory on Flight 11 includes a dynamic banking maneuver and will test subsonic guidance algorithms prior to a landing burn and splashdown in the Indian Ocean,” SpaceX stated.

SpaceX plans to have this be the ultimate launch of 2025 for the Starship program. It will spend the following few to a number of months in finalizing Starship Version 3, which is meant to be the iteration that may carry out orbital launches and recoveries.

It’s additionally transferring operations to Pad B, which has been below building for practically two years. One of essentially the most distinctive options of this new launch website is the development of a extra conventional flame trench, which was not included into the Pad A preliminary design.

William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, stated that SpaceX plans to launch not less than one suborbital flight of Starship Version 3 earlier than trying an orbital flight.