But the company still needs to obtain permission to launch
SpaceX is not going to stop there after the second launch of the largest and most powerful rocket in the world. According to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, the hardware of the Starship rocket should be ready for the third flight in 3-4 weeks.
Thus, SpaceX plans to ensure technical readiness for the third launch before Christmas. However, now the company has no guarantee that regulators will allow Starship to fly by the deadline specified by Musk.
SpaceX still needs to obtain a launch license from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This agency is overseeing the investigation into what happened during the second test launch of Starship.
Elon Musk: the huge Starship rocket with the SpaceX ship should be ready for the third flight
Saturday’s launch was scheduled to send Starship’s upper stage flying most of the way around the Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii 90 minutes after launch.
But the flight ended after about eight minutes with a “quick unscheduled disassembly.” This was not the only explosion of the day; Super Heavy Starship’s massive first stage was scheduled to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff, but it disintegrated high in the sky immediately after separating from the upper stage.
Nevertheless, SpaceX was pleased with the second test flight, which was more successful than the debut launch in April – the rocket reached space and flew higher, further and longer. The company will now carefully analyze this flight to make the necessary improvements for the next launch.
