The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared SpaceX to fly Starship prototypes again, after the company identified the probable cause of the Super Heavy booster failure during a flight in May. The next launch could happen as soon as Thursday, July 16.
This will be the second-ever launch of the third version (V3) of Starship — and the first Starship test flight since SpaceX's historic IPO on June 12, when the company listed on the Nasdaq and raised approximately $86 billion, becoming one of the ten most valuable companies in the world.
SpaceX's first V3 Starship test on May 22 was largely successful: the Super Heavy booster lifted the 407-foot rocket into space, the upper stage separated, and 20 satellite simulators were deployed along with two modified Starlinks that recorded footage of the Starship exterior. However, the booster's engines failed to properly re-ignite for its return, and it plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX determined that "slight differences in engine startup on the ship" caused the booster to turn 90 degrees in the wrong direction. The company has since modified the engine startup sequence and improved re-light reliability. The FAA confirmed that the most probable root causes were "heat effects on propulsion system components during ascent and erroneous engine alarm system settings."
This next flight carries extra significance: Starship will deploy the first real third-generation Starlink satellites — 20 of them — designed to increase network capacity and user speeds dramatically. They will connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers before burning up in the atmosphere roughly 20 minutes after deployment. Six of the satellites are equipped with cameras to photograph Starship's exterior.
The V3 versions of both Starship and Starlink are critical to SpaceX's future. Starlink was the only profitable part of SpaceX's business ahead of its IPO, and Starship's full reusability is essential for Elon Musk's ambitious plans for space-based data centers and interplanetary travel.
This launch will test whether the market's appetite for SpaceX's "fly, fail, fix" approach — which often ends in what Musk calls "rapid unscheduled disassembly" — holds up under the scrutiny that comes with being a public company.
