SpaceX’s Fourth Starship Test Date Revealed By President Gwynne Shotwell!

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Despite only a week passing since the impressive Starship IFT-3, SpaceX has already provided information on when the upcoming test may occur. During the opening session of Satellite 2024 today, Gwynne Shotwell, the President and COO of SpaceX, stated that while they are still analyzing the data from the previous flight attempt, the next test could potentially happen as early as May. Shotwell also mentioned that the Starship’s first flight was intentionally not orbital, and that the company aims to successfully execute reentry in their next attempt.

SpaceX Aims to Achieve Full Starship Orbital Capabilities by 2024, Including Stage Deployment and Recovery

During the Satellite 2024 conference, the president of SpaceX discussed the company’s Starlink satellite internet constellation and its Starship rocket. Shotwell revealed that SpaceX intends to launch a commercial version of Starlink satellite lasers by the end of this year. This service is expected to be announced during the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, which will be carried out by the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

During her remarks on the Starship test flight, Shotwell shared that her team was still analyzing the data despite taking the weekend off. According to the SpaceX COO, the intentional non-orbital flight of Starship IFT-3 was to confirm its ability to safely re-enter if the second stage engine was not relit.

Shotwell shared details about Starship IFT-4.

We’ll figure out what happened on both stages as well and get back to flight, hopefully in about six weeks, flight four hopefully, beginning part of May.

The second stage Starship’s heat shield as it battles through plasma to return to Earth. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX’s primary goals currently include perfecting re-entry techniques and ensuring that Starship can successfully land at its designated locations. In contrast to the Falcon 9, the Starship is equipped with large “chopsticks”on the launch pad that will catch the spacecraft upon landing. These chopsticks also serve the purpose of stacking the Starship spacecraft on top of the Super Heavy booster, making it a crucial aspect of SpaceX’s plan to create the largest and most reusable rocket in the world.

During the presentation, the SpaceX executive revealed the company’s goals of launching 148 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missions in the coming year. She expressed enthusiasm for the potential of Starship to successfully deploy satellites and be fully recovered with quick turnaround times for both stages. Additionally, SpaceX aims to expand their customer base for Starlink and launch seven Dragon missions by 2024.

The interval between Starship’s second and third tests spanned approximately four months. If Shotwell’s timeline is adhered to, the fourth flight will set a new record for the quickest turnaround for a Starship launch. Prior to the third flight, SpaceX had already initiated tests on the second stage Starship, while simultaneously constructing a second launch pad at the Boca Chica facilities to increase the frequency of Starship launches.

SpaceX’s IFT-3 witnessed the entire Starship stack successfully clearing the launch pad and undergoing stage separation. Despite the successful initial engine re-ignition for an entry burn by the Super Heavy, the rocket’s engines failed to ignite for the final stage of landing. The second stage Starship from SpaceX provided stunning visuals during its hypersonic re-entry, which also marked the final stage of its flight.