SpaceX Starship Third Test Flight this month
Starship's Third Test Flight is scheduled for sometime Mid-March 2024. As many of you can recall, the Starship second test flight with the heavy booster in November 2023 achieved a number of major milestones and provided invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship. SpaceX says, "The third flight test aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives, including the successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship’s payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship. It will also fly a new trajectory, with Starship targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety."
SpaceX's contract with NASA has a deadline to develop the Starship by 2026. NASA's aims to put humans back on the moon by late 2026. I believe this is a difficult deadline for SpaceX to meet if their spacecrafts can't it to orbit. NASA also has a contract with Jeff Bezo's Blue Origin (lol) in case SpaceX can't deliver a functioning Starship by 2026. Now, keep in mind that Blue Origin has never produced a spacecraft that can orbit earth. To make matters more complicated, orbital refueling has never been tested on a large scale. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin need to complete these task by 2026. Why is this so important? The USA needs to beat China to the moon. According to the NASA admin, they do not want China to get there first and then say, "This part of the moon is ours!".
I'm not a fan of both Elon Musk nor Jeff Bezos, but they need our support in order to achieve success. NASA's goal is to the moon and then mars. They need to see this through.
P.S. I can't post pictures anymore.
