SpaceX’s reusable Starship megarocket is set to fly again next week, provided all goes according to plan. Elon Musk announced the timeline target in a recent post, stating that he will give a company talk explaining the Mars game plan before the upcoming test flight.
The Starship and Mars are closely intertwined as SpaceX aims to develop the fully reusable vehicle to help humanity settle the Red Planet. The next test flight, which will be the ninth for a fully stacked Starship vehicle, is expected to take place on May 21, pending approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The FAA is overseeing SpaceX’s investigation into what happened on Flight 8, where the upper stage exploded less than 10 minutes after liftoff. The company has been preparing the Flight 9 Starship vehicle for some time and has already performed engine tests with the Super Heavy and Ship that will conduct the test flight.
The upcoming flight marks the first reuse of a Starship stage, as the same Super Heavy booster flew on previous missions. With the FAA’s approval, SpaceX is confident that all boxes are checked for Flight 9 to proceed.
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Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-will-launch-starships-9th-test-flight-next-week-elon-musk-says