SpaceX targets first Starship orbital test on September 22

Sept 15 — SpaceX said on Tuesday it was preparing ​to launch its next Starship flight test as soon as September 22, a ‌mission expected to send the vehicle into orbit for ⁠the first time and ​deploy Starlink V3 ⁠satellites.

Starship's 14th test flight would mark a ‌major leap ‌in the rocket's development over its last ⁠test in July, which ⁠flew a suborbital trajectory that took the spacecraft into space before returning it to Earth without completing an orbit.

The company plans to place Starship into orbit around ‌Earth, a milestone that ​would allow it to test the vehicle over a longer-duration flight and deploy the first batch of Starlink V3 satellites.

The mission, pending regulatory approval, is expected to last nearly 10 hours, with Starship flying about ​275 km above Earth and completing about ‌six orbits ‌before ⁠splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

SpaceX plans to test the booster's launch, separation, boostback and splashdown procedures, advancing the ‌company toward its ​goal of a fully ‌reusable orbital launch ⁠system.

(Reporting ​by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim ​Zahid)

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