SpaceX plans for 1st orbital Starship flight hint at Texas-to-Hawaii trip
NASA plans to launch a SpaceX prototype Starship from South Texas and send it round-the-world, splashing down near Hawaii.
SpaceX's Starship SN15 rocket prototype launches on a 10-kilometer test flight from SpaceX's Starbase test site near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on May 5, 2021.
SpaceX is getting Starship ready for its first orbital flight.
The company plans to launch a prototype Starship vehicle from the usual location near Boca Chica, Texas, and do a round-the-world uncrewed flight that will splash down off the coast of Hawaii, according to a document filed with the U.
S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that was first reported by The Verge.
A flight date has not yet been announced, although SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said he hopes to get Starship into orbit by the end of 2021.
Related:SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy rocket in pictures
Starship consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully reusable: a spacecraft called Starship and a giant first-stage booster known as Super Heavy.
During the upcoming orbital mission, SpaceX plans to return the first stage — likely a Super Heavy on its debut flight, according to media reports — to Earth about 6 minutes after liftoff. But Super Heavy won't come down at the launch site; the target landing zone is a patch of the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the South Texas coast, according to the document.
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