Abdelrahman
SpaceX has announced a delay for the eighth test flight of its ambitious Starship megarocket, postponing it by a few days.
The aerospace company, founded by Elon Musk, had initially set its sights on Friday, February 28, for the launch of Flight 8 of Starship, which is the largest and most powerful rocket ever constructed. However, that schedule has changed.
SpaceX updated its plans, stating, “Currently targeting to launch Starship’s eighth flight test as early as Monday, March 3,” in a post shared on X early Thursday morning (February 27). No specific reasons for the delay have been provided.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, Starship is expected to take off from SpaceX’s South Texas facility, known as Starbase, with a launch window opening at 6:30 PM EST (11:30 PM GMT; 5:30 PM local Texas time) on Monday. You can catch the live stream of the launch here at Space.com, thanks to SpaceX’s coverage.
The fully integrated Starship made its maiden flight in April 2023 and has since completed six additional flights, the last being on January 16.
During this mission, Flight 7 achieved partial success, as SpaceX managed to successfully catch the massive Super Heavy first-stage booster using the “chopstick” arms of Starbase’s launch tower approximately seven minutes after liftoff.
The upper stage of the vehicle, known as Ship, was designed to deploy 10 test versions of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, orbit much of the Earth, and splash down in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia about an hour post-launch. Unfortunately, this did not occur due to a propellant leak, leading Ship to explode over the Atlantic Ocean.
For Flight 8, SpaceX aims to perform objectives similar to those of Flight 7, as outlined in their mission description. The team intends to once again execute a Super Heavy catch with the chopsticks—this time aiming for a successful third attempt—and Ship will try to deploy four mock Starlink satellites during its suborbital flight.
Ship will once again aim for a controlled splashdown off the coast of Western Australia. Looking ahead, SpaceX eventually plans to attempt catching the returning upper stage using the launch tower’s chopsticks as well, although that endeavor is not yet ready for execution.
