Barely two weeks after Starship 5’s historic flight success, SpaceX is already preparing for a new demonstration mission for November. With this flight, Elon Musk’s company plans to meet a future deadline in its roadmap for NASA’s Artemis program’s lunar mission.
Barely two weeks after the success of Starship 5, SpaceXSpaceX is already focusing on a new demonstration mission for November. Super Heavy Booster, main stage of The rocketThe rocketis currently in the trial phase and has been installed on its launch pad for engine tests.
For this sixth mission, SpaceX plans to repeat the feat of the previous flight with the goal of recovering the Superheavy using the Mechazilla tower. Chopstickswhich acts as a vice to secure the floor upon return.
As for the starship, which completed about an hour of flight during its last mission, that is not the case. A priority Still not expected to land on dry land. While this option is attractive, it presents considerable challenges. The return to Earth requires a completely different flight profile than the previous flight and hard ground landings can only be made near the starbase at Boca Chica in the United States. Given its size (50 meters, 9 meters in diameter and 121 meters high with its booster) and its mass, it would be nearly impossible to send the starship back to Texas by land or air. Therefore, during the last flight, it must land in the Indian Ocean.
That said, it’s very likelyElon MuskElon Musk We have a surprise for this flight. Starship launches are known for their unpredictable aspects and this next mission should be no exception!
Lunar Missions in Focus
The purpose of this next flight is to demonstrate that the starship’s launch speed can be accelerated, a requirement for NASA’s Artemis program that plans to return astronauts. LoanLoan. For NASA, this mission could strengthen confidence in SpaceX’s ability to keep its promises and be ready for 2026! In fact, the plan is to land on the moon as part of the Starship Artemis III, whose mission is to deposit two astronauts on the lunar surface. The launch is now planned for late 2026, pushed back a year from the original September 2025 date.
To this end, NASA emphasized the need for the starship to complete a significant number of flights before it was considered ready for manned missions. Specifically, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit fuel transfer between two Starships, a mission planned for 2025, as well as at least two unmanned test flights to the Moon, including a lunar landing. And return to earth is included. orbitorbit Lunar
