Elon Musk says SpaceX's Starship rocket will be ready to fly in July — but the company needs to comply with the FAA's 75 terms first
AP
- Elon Musk said SpaceX's Starship spacecraft will be ready to launch into orbit in July.
- SpaceX must comply with 75 actions required by the FAA to reduce environmental impacts.
- A second Starship prototype will fly in August and SpaceX is planning monthly flights, Musk said.
Elon Musk said SpaceX's massive rocket, Starship, is expected to be ready to launch in July after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finished its environmental review this week.
"Starship will be ready to fly next month," Musk tweeted. "I was in the high bay & mega bay late last night reviewing progress."
The billionaire wrote in a separate tweet that SpaceX "will have a second Starship stack ready to fly in August" and then will launch flights on a monthly basis from then on.
His tweets came after the FAA found no significant environmental impact with SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, meaning the company can expand its launch site in South Texas, known as Starbase.
Before SpaceX launches Starship, it needs to take more than 75 actions, listed in the FAA's 43-page review, to mitigate the environmental impacts. Some of these actions include SpaceX carrying out "clean-ups" of the local Boca Chica Beach every quarter, monitoring its launch site lighting to protect sea turtles, and giving $5,000 to organizations which protect endangered birds of prey and ocelots.
If SpaceX meets the 75 requirements, the FAA will grant the aerospace company a license that gives it the green light to launch its massive Starship rocket into orbit for the first time.
Musk said in February he was confident that Starship would fly into orbit this year, but this was one of Musk's many timeline predictions for the launch. July 2021, November 2021, and January 2022 were all forecasted to be the date of Starship's first orbital launch, but the FAA was still conducting its environmental review at these points.
When Starship eventually launches, it will lift off from South Texas and splash down off the coast of Hawaii as part of its 90-minute orbital test flight, according to SpaceX's Federal Communications Commission filing in May.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Ha2S1M0
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment