Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is About To Launch ‘Starship’ Into Orbit Around Earth

It’s widely expected that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is on the cusp of its first attempt to launch its Starship spacecraft into orbit around Earth.

CEO Musk tweeted a short video Thursday alongside the message “Starship preparing for launch”.

However, a later tweet from SpaceX indicated that a “wet launch” rehearsal would take place week commencing Monday, April 10, 2023 with a launch potentially the week after.

Starship—specifically Ship 24—will launch from SpaceX’s Starbase on Boca Chica Beach, Texas. If it’s successful it will become the Lone Star State’s first-ever orbital rocket launch—but exactly when the launch will happen is unknown.

When will SpaceX Starship launch?

Though not on the official list of SpaceX launches, sources such as Spaceflight Now, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Operations Plan Advisory, suggest that the launch time will be Monday, April 17, 2023.

The FAA page gives backup dates as Tuesday, April 18 through Sunday, April 23.

Given that this launch is delayed from 2022, don’t be surprised if it slips by days or even weeks.

The best advice is to keep an eye on the SpaceX’s Twitter feed, Elon Musk’s Twitter feed and the FAA Operations Plan Advisory for updates.

Where to watch SpaceX Starship launch

Head over to SpaceX’s official YouTube channel for the best coverage.

What will SpaceX Starship do?

According to Spaceflight Now this orbital test flight will see a SpaceX Super Heavy and Starship launch vehicle attempt one full orbit of Earth before Starship’s re-entry and splashdown near Hawaii.

The Super Heavy rocket booster will separate 170 seconds into flight and return to land approximately 32 km off the shore of the Boca Chica launch site in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Space Launch Now, which states that the second stage (Starship) will orbit Earth before a powered, targeted splashdown approximately 100 km off the northwest coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

What is Starship?

It’s a fully reusable rocket-spaceship. Technically it’s two pieces of hardware that together stand 390 feet tall:

• Super Heavy rocket (first stage): 33 Raptor engines that burn liquid oxygen and methane.
• Starship spacecraft (second stage): six Raptor engines. An all-in-one spacecraft where crew or cargo can be housed.

Used in various configurations—from reusable to expendable (more cargo) and with/without the Super Heavy rocket underneath—Starship is a reusable concept designed for everything from Moon landings and interplanetary exploration (notably to build and fill a colony on Mars) to suborbital supersonic flights on Earth.

Will Starship go to the Moon?

SpaceX and NASA are not competitors, but partners.

In April 2021, NASA selected SpaceX to develop a human landing system variant of its Starship vehicle to take astronauts to the lunar surface during NASA’s Artemis III mission. That’s penciled-in for 2025, though will likely go later.

As part of that contract, SpaceX will conduct an uncrewed demonstration mission to the Moon prior to Artemis III.

NASA this week announced its crew line-up for Artemis II in 2024 or 2025.

When will Starship fly with astronauts?

Revealed in February 2022, the Polaris Program is a tie-up with SpaceX that will see up to three human spaceflight missions to demonstrate new technologies. It’s headed-up by Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, who went to space as commander of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission in September 2021.

The first mission, Polaris Dawn, is targeted for no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2023 and will see SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft containing four astronauts fly 870 miles above Earth—the highest since the Apollo missions to the Moon. The third mission is scheduled to be the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship with humans on board.

When will SpaceX launch its Starship into orbit? It looks set to be real soon—but expect delays.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.