November 11 — The sixth test flight of the Starship Super Heavy could launch from Boca Chica Beach as early as November 18, although this time the launch is scheduled for late afternoon rather than early morning as with previous Starship flights, according to SpaceX.

As currently planned, a 30-minute launch window will open at 4 p.m., with a live webcast of the launch beginning approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.

“As is the case with all development testing, the schedule is dynamic and subject to change,” the company said.

Starship’s fifth flight on October 13 was described by SpaceX as a “seminal moment in the iteration toward a fully and rapidly reusable launch system.”

The company succeeded in its first attempt to bring the first-stage Super Heavy booster back to the launch pad and catch it with mechanized arms attached to the launch tower, instead of landing the booster offshore as during flights previous ones.

The second stage of the craft underwent several design improvements for the fifth flight, “resulting in controlled entry and high-precision water landing in the targeted area of ​​the Indian Ocean,” SpaceX said.

Moving the launch to the afternoon means Starship will re-enter the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean in daylight, allowing for better visual observation, the company said.

The company’s overarching goal is to quickly recover and reuse Starships and Super Heavy aircraft to reduce operating costs. With Flight 6, the goal is to “expand the capability envelope of ships and boosters and move closer to reuse of the entire system online,” SpaceX said.

The goals of the next test flight include a second booster shot, reigniting one of the Starship’s six engines in space, and “testing a series of heat shield experiments and maneuver changes to re-entry and descent (of the Starship) over the Indian Ocean,” the company said. .

The successful capture of the booster on October 13 provided design feasibility, while data generated during the flight will be used to make further improvements to the hardware and software, SpaceX said.

“Hardware upgrades for this flight add additional redundancy to the booster’s propulsion systems, increase structural strength in key areas, and shorten the time to unload the booster propellants after successful capture,” the company said.

As with Flight 5, an attempt to catch the booster won’t happen without “healthy systems on the booster and tower” and final manual override from the mission’s flight director, SpaceX said. Otherwise, the booster will “default to a trajectory that will bring it to a fiery landing and a smooth splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico,” the company said.

“We make no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and return will only take place if conditions are right,” SpaceX said.

As the returning Super Heavy decelerates from supersonic speed, sonic booms will be audible in the area around the landing zone, the company said.

“Typically, the only impact on people near a sonic boom is the brief thunder-like noise, the magnitude of which is determined by variables such as weather and distance from the return site. by observers,” SpaceX said.

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