SpaceX: Musk’s Starship takes off for its fifth test flight today

The largest rocket system ever built in space history is set to embark on a fifth test flight. The Starship spaceship is scheduled to take off unmanned on Sunday between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. (CEST) from the spaceport of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX in the US state of Texas. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave permission for takeoff on Saturday.

Previous tests had not been consistently successful. During the first launch in April 2023, the entire rocket system exploded after just a few minutes. During a second test in November 2023, the two rocket stages separated and the upper one continued to fly, but shortly afterwards both exploded separately. During a third test in March, the Starship reached space for the first time, but was also unable to complete the flight as hoped. During a fourth test flight in June, the Starship attempted a controlled landing for the first time, but there were problems here too. The aim of the retest is to collect further data.

The Starship is intended to enable manned missions to the Moon and Mars. The system is designed so that the spacecraft and rocket can be reused after returning to Earth. The approximately 120 meter long system will be able to transport well over 100 tons of cargo in the future. NASA will use the spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon. SpaceX hopes to one day take the system to Mars.