But Isaacman—now a SpaceX “frequent flier” after also taking part in 2021’s Inspiration4 mission, the first all-civilian spaceflight—is just getting started.

“If we actually believe in the future that SpaceX is trying to create—where tens of thousands of people can be in space, on the moon, walking around on Mars—these kinds of capabilities have to exist within commercial industry,” Isaacman told FLYING at the 2024 UP.Summit.

Polaris Dawn was the first of three missions under Isaacman’s Polaris Program. The final mission, which does not yet have a target date, is expected to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship: the most powerful rocket ever built and the vehicle CEO Elon Musk believes will help humans colonize Mars.

Isaacman and crewmates Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, the first SpaceX employees to actually fly to space, sat down with FLYING for a mission debrief to highlight their favorite moments from Polaris Dawn—and talk about what comes next.

No Days Off

From the moment they lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, secured in a SpaceX Dragon capsule strapped to a Falcon 9 rocket, the Polaris Dawn crew got to work.

On the first day of the mission, for example, the crew reached an orbital apogee of 870 miles—three times higher than the International Space Station and the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since the Apollo era. Gillis and Menon now share the record for the furthest distance traveled from Earth by a woman.

At that altitude, the crew passed through the Van Allen radiation belts, a treacherous environment for humans. It conducted research that will help scientists better understand how to protect astronauts flying through that region.

“There’s micrometeoroid and debris that’s out there. A little millimeter piece of aluminum traveling at 8 kilometers a second will shred just about everything,” Isaacman said during a panel discussion at UP.Summit. “It’s a scary prospect. But we’ve got to travel through that if we’re going to get to the moon and Mars.”

Isaacman’s favorite moment of the mission, however, was the spacewalk he and Gillis performed. It was the first time civilian astronauts ventured outside a spacecraft. And because the Dragon capsule lacks an airlock, it was also the first time four astronauts were simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space.

“That moment when Jared opened the hatch and there was the black beauty of space outside the hatch was a moment full of sensation, full of the awe that that evoked, as well as a cold rushing over your body,” Menon said. “It’s a full body experience.”

Traveling at 17,500 mph at an orbital altitude north of 450 miles, the astronauts were protected by SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which were specially designed for Polaris Dawn. The goal of the spacewalk was to perform mobility testing on the suits—a relatively simple objective compared to previous EVAs.

“The difference is—and this is so important—is all of those had the entire weight and resources of world superpowers behind them,” Isaacman said.

NASA’s budget peaked in the 1960s, when it was about 4.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

For Gillis, a classically trained violinist, the highlight was her on-orbit performance of “Rey’s Theme” from the Star Wars franchise. Incredibly, Gillis said she had no prior practice playing in microgravity, where pushing on the violin’s fingerboard can move the entire instrument. She used a quarter-sized bow for greater control.

“It was three crewmembers in front of me with this tangle of cables, and the chaos of them trying to get the right angle as they’re floating away, and I’m floating away,” Gillis said. “It was just this total joy to try and record that.”

The performance, organized in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema USA, was a charitable effort to raise awareness and funding for cancer research and access to music education. But it was also a demonstration of SpaceX’s Starlink communications system. A Starlink module on Dragon used a beam of light to transmit the footage to another satellite while both were moving at orbital speeds.

How They Did It

Polaris Dawn was a private astronaut mission, meaning SpaceX was responsible for preparing the crew. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, the fourth crewmember and a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot of two decades, said the training was more intense than anything he has ever experienced.

Gillis, a SpaceX astronaut trainer, said that while the crewmembers brought plenty of experience, combining their strengths was a learning curve. Early on, for example, they struggled through teamwork exercises in a simulator.

“We might have all of this expertise across the four of us, but we utterly failed that sim,” Gillis said. “Just because you have your own expertise doesn’t mean you are yet able to work in a team well.”

Added Menon: “It is really, really neat to see how the team develops together, how they learn to work together, and how they prepare for a mission. And it was really confidence inspiring, and really, to me, a very beautiful part of the development process getting us to launch.”

Isaacman said the training for Polaris Dawn was as special as the mission itself. The astronauts’ preparations took them scuba diving and skydiving, into the cockpit of fighter jets, and even to the top of Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Each day was a new adventure.

“You came in one day and this development suit had a handful of different rotators or joints in it that we were testing out,” Isaacman said, “and then we come back the next week and it would be entirely different.”

In just two and a half years, SpaceX trained the crew, modified Dragon, and developed the EVA suits for Polaris Dawn. To put that into perspective, Menon’s husband, Anil Menon, was selected by NASA for an astronaut mission four days before Menon was picked by SpaceX—but she flew first.

Why It Matters

The technology and capabilities demonstrated during Polaris Dawn could alter human spaceflight as we know it.

The spacewalk, for example, was more than a flashy achievement. NASA’s current EVA spacesuits were designed four decades ago, and suit maintenance has forced the agency to postpone several spacewalks in recent months. Earlier this year, NASA and Collins Aerospace “mutually agreed” to end a $100 million contract that would see Collins deliver new suits by 2026.

NASA could spend billions of dollars on a suit redesign. SpaceX’s EVA suit, meanwhile, is designed to be manufactured at scale for thousands of people to build and explore on Mars, Isaacman said. The suit was designed for Polaris Dawn specifically, “but just like a lot of things that SpaceX works on, the utility is quite broad,” he said, implying that other astronauts will one day wear it.

The Starlink communications system showcased during the mission, meanwhile, could be a tool to ease demand on NASA’s Deep Space Network: an array of giant radio antennas that supports communications in the final frontier.

“We’re even hearing now, just even alleviating the demand over the [U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System] and ground stations…as being a potential communication path to lunar missions, or potentially even Mars,” Isaacman said.

The altitude record, spacewalk, and symphony performance grabbed most of the Polaris Dawn headlines. But in between those objectives, the crew conducted an array of experiments to study the health of astronauts on long-duration spaceflight.

“There’s a lot of problems we have to solve if we’re going to have thousands of people living and working in space for really long periods of time and going really far from Earth,” said Menon.

For example, crewmembers stuck a device called an endoscope down their noses to image their airways, the first time that has been accomplished in space. They also researched spaceflight associated neuro ocular syndrome (SANS), a condition developed in microgravity that can impair astronauts’ vision. Other experiments focused on motion sickness, which according to Menon affects about 6 in 10 people when they first reach space.

“If you have 100 people in a spacecraft going up at the same time, and 60 of them are vomiting, that’s a big problem,” she said.

Data from these experiments will be entered into a database that is accessible to the wider space community, allowing non-SpaceX researchers to learn for years to come.

“If we want to have a future among the stars, if we want to have many people living and working there, we need these solutions,” Gillis said. “We need a new communication system. We need EVA suits so people can actually go and explore the surface of Mars. We need to understand the health implications so by the time we get there, they haven’t lost their vision and they aren’t sick.”

The crew also spent plenty of time studying problems back on Earth.

Isaacman’s Inspiration4 crewmate, St. Jude physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, became the first human to fly to space with a prosthesis after recovering from childhood bone cancer. That mission raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars for the charity, which signed on as a partner for Polaris Dawn.

“You’ll continue to see [St. Jude] play a huge part in all of our missions until their work is done,” Isaacman said.

The astronauts traveled the world visiting hospitals and meeting children, medical professionals, and researchers who helped inform some of their experiments. They installed Starlink connections at many facilities, providing access to the Internet and education. The work was part of St. Jude’s effort to create cancer treatment programs, educate oncologists, and provide access to safe chemotherapy treatment worldwide.

“Right now, depending on where you’re born, you either have an 80 percent chance of survival, or you have a 20 percent chance if you’re not born in the U.S.,” Gillis said. “So [St. Jude has] pioneered extraordinary outcomes for children. But if you aren’t born here, you don’t benefit from that.”

One of the mission’s most special moments was Menon’s on-orbit reading of a children’s book she authored, Kisses from Space, to her two children and St. Jude patients. Proceeds from the book will go to St. Jude, and the charity will auction off the copy that traveled to space.

“It was ultimately the story of the power of love to overcome any distance, and I think, hopefully, sharing space but also sharing human connection and the power of that through this space story,” Menon said. “Reaching kids around the world was a powerful moment.”

What’s Next?

Isaacman said the Polaris Dawn crew still has a few weeks of debriefing, and he has yet to fully turn his sights to the next Polaris mission.

“We are still very on-mission,” he said. “We really need to understand everything we got right and could have done better on this one, things we got wrong and certainly could improve upon, before you even get to what’s in the realm of possibility for Mission Two.”

Isaacman couldn’t say much about the next mission. But some time next year, he said, the Polaris team will come together to determine what they can pull off.

For example, SpaceX could improve its EVA suit with added mobility, a portable life support system, or increased pressure, which would eliminate the “prebreathe” process Polaris astronauts used to remove nitrogen from their bodies before the EVA. Chances are the next mission will feature another spacewalk.

“It would be such a travesty if [SpaceX] didn’t take what they learned and take another giant leap in a good direction,” Isaacman said. “So I would fully expect EVAs are on the horizon for the next go.”

Mission Two will set the stage for the final Polaris mission, which is expected to be the debut crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship. Both Starship and the Super Heavy booster are designed to be fully reusable, and SpaceX plans to fly them hundreds of times before adding crew. Musk in September said the company could launch uncrewed Starships to Mars within two years.

If SpaceX can successfully validate Starship, it could usher in a new era of civilian spaceflight. Gillis and Menon, for example, were the first two SpaceX employees to reach the final frontier, but they may not be the last.

“If you have a propulsion engineer, you have the interior engineer, the suit engineer on that spaceship, it makes a lot of sense to bring the expertise with you when you’re going to Mars,” Menon said. “I don’t think I ever thought it would happen this soon—and I definitely didn’t think it would be me.”

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Polaris Dawn Crew Talks Mission Highlights, Next Steps appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On Sunday, Starship and the Super Heavy booster lifted off around 8:25 a.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on the rocket’s fifth suborbital test flight. But rather than splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, as it did on the previous flight, Super Heavy was caught in midair by a pair of metal “chopstick” arms the company refers to as “Mechazilla.”

It is the first time such a maneuver has been successfully completed and represents the program’s most ambitious milestone to date.

“The entire SpaceX team should take pride in the engineering feat they just accomplished,” the company said in a postlaunch update. “The world witnessed what the future will look like when Starship starts carrying crew and cargo to destinations on Earth, the moon, Mars and beyond.”

Built to Last

As SpaceX alluded to, Starship—which stands nearly 400 feet tall when stacked on Super Heavy—is being designed to one day ferry humans around the solar system.

The firm is also working under a $4 billion NASA contract to develop two human landing system (HLS) variants of Starship that will return Americans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions. The HLS will first fly on Artemis III, which is tentatively scheduled for September 2026 and will land NASA astronauts at the lunar south pole.

To develop such a vehicle, SpaceX will need to launch Starship hundreds of times. And to do that, both the rocket and booster will need to be turned around quickly. SpaceX therefore designed both components to be fully reusable. That makes Sunday’s mission—which returned Super Heavy to its launch pad intact—a key piece of validation.

“Congratulations to @SpaceX on its successful booster catch and fifth Starship flight test today!” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a post on X. “As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead—including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars.”

Following liftoff, Super Heavy separated from Starship and reversed course back to Earth, descending at supersonic speed. The booster then fired a handful of engines to apply the brakes, slowing to a hover before Mechazilla snared it from the sky about seven minutes into the mission. It was a bull’s-eye landing and the first time the booster had launched and returned to the same pad. SpaceX captured the moment in real time.

“Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s flight director,” SpaceX said in a post on X.

Super Heavy is significantly larger than SpaceX’s ubiquitous Falcon 9 rocket, which it has successfully landed hundreds of times both on land and at sea. And because it lacks landing legs, SpaceX was forced to get creative.

The company achieved its goal remarkably quickly. Flight 4 was a huge step, as the booster splashed down “with half a centimeter accuracy,” according to Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX. Previous missions, however, lost the booster entirely.

According to Dan Huot, a SpaceX communications manager on Sunday’s live feed, “We’re going to start looking real soon at when we can catch a [Starship].”

Starship, meanwhile, completed its own objectives, executing hot-stage separation, ignition, and ascent to outer space. It coasted about halfway around the planet before reentering the atmosphere, flipping itself around, and making a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. A camera buoy captured that moment as well.

Like Super Heavy during Flight 4, the rocket tipped over and sunk into the ocean. This time, though, SpaceX upgraded Starship’s thermal systems for reentry, where conditions are hot enough to envelop the rocket in plasma. The upgrade appeared to prevent the loss of flaps and other hardware that were jettisoned previously.

“We were not intending to recover any of the ship’s hardware, so that was the best ending that we could have hoped for,” said SpaceX engineer Kate Tice during Sunday’s live stream.

Under Scrutiny

SpaceX says it intends to churn out thousands of Starships per year at its one million-square-foot Starfactory plant. But the company is frustrated by the pace of the FAA launch licensing process, even going so far as to air its grievances publicly.

The FAA took extra time to review the Flight 5 mission profile.

“SpaceX’s current license authorizing the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile,” an agency spokesperson told FLYING last month. “SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review.”

The FAA evaluated a new splashdown site in the Gulf of Mexico as well as what it predicted would be an unusually large sonic boom during the booster landing, prompting respective 60-day consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It has also proposed more than $630,000 in fines against SpaceX for allegedly violating the terms of its license during two previous missions, neither involving Starship.

According to FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, the measures are “necessary” for safety. SpaceX takes a decidedly different perspective. It claims the agency communicated a September timeline for Flight 5 that was later revised to late November. Saturday’s approval of a launch license therefore came as a bit of a surprise.

“We continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” SpaceX said in a September update. “This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as the leader in space.”

SpaceX also faces scrutiny for failing to contain a liquid oxygen spill at Starbase in violation of the Clean Water Act, the EPA told FLYING last month. The company ate a $150,000 fine but denied it expels anything other than regular drinking water.

What’s Next?

If it sticks to the Flight 5 mission profile for the next Starship test, SpaceX will be able to launch under its current license.

But if the firm makes significant modifications—as it is prone to do, given that each mission has been more ambitious than the last—it could become entangled in another FAA feud.

Starship’s debut crewed flight is intended to be the third mission of the Polaris Program—a series of private flights purchased from SpaceX by billionaire CEO Jared Isaacman, the first of which concluded last month. Before then, SpaceX plans to fly hundreds of missions without crew. CEO Elon Musk even said last month that the firm intends to launch routine, uncrewed Starship missions to Mars within two years.

NASA has estimated that the spacecraft will require about 15 test flights before the Starship HLS is ready to put humans back on the moon. The next step for SpaceX will be to validate orbital flight (all Starship missions so far have been suborbital) and demonstrate orbital maneuvers like propellant transfer. That’s exactly what the firm plans to do as early as next year, launching twin Starships that will mate and transfer fuel from one to the other.

Starship is loaded with about 10 million pounds of propellant, generating some 17 million pounds of thrust from its 13 Raptor engines. It boasts greater fuel capacity than any modern technology. But to give it enough juice to fly to the moon and back, it will need to fuel up at an orbital propellant depot. To hit its Artemis III deadline, NASA will need Starship to complete several missions to stock up that fuel supply. Officials are contemplating alternative mission profiles in case there isn’t enough time..

“The pacing item is the rate at which SpaceX can launch the systems that can fuel the depot,” said Lori Glaze, acting deputy associate administrator of NASA’s exploration directorate, earlier this month.

In furtherance of that objective, SpaceX is developing a second launch pad at Starbase. The company also seeks to launch and recover rockets from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which could increase Starship’s cadence.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Achieves Historic Booster Catch During Starship Test appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

During a committee hearing focused on FAA oversight of Boeing amid the manufacturer’s recent safety woes, Kiley squeezed in a few questions about Starship, which according to SpaceX has been bogged down by licensing issues “ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

“America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Thursday.

The largest rocket ever built, Starship so far has made four suborbital test flights. SpaceX will attempt a unique maneuver during Flight 5, using a pair of “chopstick” arms to catch the rocket’s Super Heavy booster in midair. But while Musk had hoped to launch this month, the FAA told the company its license would be ready no earlier than late November.

“I think the two-month delay is necessary to comply with the launch requirements, and I think that’s an important part of safety culture,” Whitaker said.

According to the FAA leader, SpaceX has failed to provide a sonic boom analysis for the upcoming mission, which will have a larger sonic boom radius than previous flights. That brought a 30-day delay to give the FAA time to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Whitaker said the analysis is “safety related.”

Starship faces further delays because SpaceX filed a launch application without disclosing it was in violation of Texas law, Whitaker said. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month told FLYING the company violated the Clean Water Act by failing to contain a liquid oxygen spill at its Starbase launchpad, prompting a $150,000 fine. SpaceX denied that it violated any laws at Starbase but ate the fine to avoid any consequences.

SpaceX also faces more than $630,000 in proposed fines from the FAA for allegedly failing to adhere to launch requirements on two previous missions. Whitaker said the fines are unrelated to the Flight 5 setback, but the agency claims the company’s unauthorized use of a new control room and fuel farm raised safety concerns. Musk, in response, said SpaceX will fight the penalties in court.

“I think safety is in the public interest, and that’s our priority focus with the proposed civil penalty,” Whitaker said, adding that fines are the “only tool” the FAA has to ensure compliance.

When asked how SpaceX could speed up the licensing process, the administrator responded, “Complying with the regulations would be the best path.”

SpaceX, however, did not take kindly to Whitaker’s comments. The company on Tuesday sent a letter to Kiley claiming that Whitaker “made several incorrect statements today regarding SpaceX,” bringing the feud between the company and the agency further into the public eye.

“In fact,” the company wrote, “every statement he made was incorrect.”

Whitaker twice said SpaceX “launched without a permit,” which as the company pointed out is not true. As the FAA notes, the firm faces penalties for “allegedly failing to follow its license requirements,” necessitating the existence of a license.

The company claimed its new fuel farm was approved by Federal Range Safety officials and analyzed by the FAA, which “required no changes to the previously approved Federal Range configuration.” The agency additionally “was on console and did not stop the countdown” for that launch, SpaceX said.

The firm further alleged that the revised sonic boom analysis for Flight 5 “has nothing to do with safety” and is a simple paperwork issue. It said USFWS officials previously determined the booms have no environmental impact and that the slightly larger impact area won’t change things.

“SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA told FLYING earlier this month. “This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies.”

The agency did not immediately respond to FLYING’s request for comment on SpaceX’s letter to Kiley.

SpaceX has grand ambitions for Starship, with Musk earlier this week saying it would begin routine missions to Mars within two years. The company argues that scrutiny from the FAA is not in the public interest, and delaying Flight 5 due to what it believes is not a safety issue could hurt U.S. leadership in human spaceflight.

Kiley agreed, asking whether the FAA “needs to be reformed in a way that is better suited toward the type of innovation that we should be moving toward in the commercial space industry.”

“I agree that this is a vital mission, and I think SpaceX has been a very innovative company,” Whitaker said. “But I think they’re also a mature company. They’ve been around 20 years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety, and that includes adopting a [safety management system] program. That includes having a whistleblower program.”

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Starship Launch Delay ‘Necessary,’ FAA Administrator Tells Congress appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On Tuesday, as the company occasionally does when facing what it deems to be unfair treatment, SpaceX posted a lengthy update decrying the decision. According to the firm, the FAA had assured it that Starship would get the green light this month. It claims the rocket has been ready to fly since early August, an assertion CEO Elon Musk reiterated last week.

“Unfortunately, we continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” the firm said. “This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as the leader in space.”

With the ability to be used multiple times on the cheap, Starship is expected to be a game-changer for U.S. spaceflight. SpaceX wants to launch the rocket up to 120 times per year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Musk last week claimed the vehicle will reach Mars within two years.

SpaceX is also developing a Starship human landing system (HLS), a lunar lander variant of the spacecraft, for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which would return Americans to the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Starship will require a few more test flights before the mission, which is scheduled for late 2026.

That’s not much time, but SpaceX plans to get there using its philosophy of iterative design. Basically, the company puts flight hardware through real-world testing as often as possible to learn quickly and improve the chances of success on the next flight. The strategy helped it commercialize the now-ubiquitous Falcon rocket.

“The more we fly safely, the faster we learn; the faster we learn, the sooner we realize full and rapid rocket reuse,” SpaceX said.

Each Starship test flight has flown farther and accomplished more than the last. The fourth, in June, marked the first time both Starship and the Super Heavy booster made it back to Earth in one piece after the first two attempts ended in explosions.

Keeping with the trend, Flight 5 will feature the most ambitious goal yet. SpaceX will attempt to catch Super Heavy midair using two large “chopstick” arms, returning it safely to the Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas. 

The maneuver could pose risk to Starbase’s launch tower, but SpaceX says it has been preparing for years. The delay could create a ripple effect that hampers future Starship test flights. Safely returning the booster is a critical piece of the system’s reusability.

“It’s understandable that such a unique operation would require additional time to analyze from a licensing perspective,” the firm said. “Unfortunately, instead of focusing resources on critical safety analysis and collaborating on rational safeguards to protect both the public and the environment, the licensing process has been repeatedly derailed by issues ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

What’s the Holdup?

SpaceX said the FAA communicated that a launch license would be awarded this month, but the process has been delayed due to “four open environmental issues” it deems unnecessary.

Starship’s maiden voyage in April 2023 was a brief but bombastic one. The FAA grounded the rocket as it investigated the launch and explosion, which shook buildings, shattered windows, and sent ash and debris flying miles away.

The impact was more severe than SpaceX anticipated due to the lack of a flame deflector—a common fixture at launch sites that uses water to absorb energy and heat—beneath Starbase. According to Musk, the system was absent because it “wasn’t ready in time” and the company thought the pad could withstand the launch.

The FAA’s handling of Starship’s initial launch license prompted a lawsuit from five environmental groups, which the agency reportedly has sought to dismiss. With the flame deflector installed, subsequent Starship flights have not destroyed the launch pad.

However, the FAA has approved two 60-day consultations that could extend the timeline for a fifth mission.

According to SpaceX, the only proposed change to the mission’s hot-stage jettison—during which the top of the Super Heavy booster is expelled—is a new splashdown location, which it says would not raise the risk of harm to marine life. Still, the FAA signed off on a consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service to evaluate the new site.

“SpaceX’s current license authorizing the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile,” the agency told FLYING. “SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review.”

SpaceX, though, fears the review could be longer.

“The mechanics of these types of consultations outline that any new questions raised during that time can reset the 60-day counter, over and over again,” it said.

A separate consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), requested by the FAA due to Flight 5’s larger sonic boom radius, could add to the delays. A sonic boom occurs as Starship slows from supersonic speeds on its way back to Earth.

“SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA said. “This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies.”

According to SpaceX, both agencies have studied Starship booster landings and concluded there is no significant environmental impact from sonic booms. The firm also claims studies back the idea that sonic booms have no detrimental effect on wildlife—but the jury is still out on that one.

According to an evaluation by the California Coastal Commission of SpaceX’s request to increase Falcon 9 launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, experts don’t fully understand the effects of noise on animals. The commission rejected the request in part because sonic booms generated by Falcon 9—a less powerful rocket than Starship—force too many closures and evacuations of local parks.

“At Starbase, we implement an extensive list of mitigations developed with federal and state agencies, many of which require year-round monitoring and frequent updates to regulators and consultation with independent biological experts,” SpaceX said.

Among other things, the company says it works with a local nonprofit to transport injured sea turtles for treatment and monitors bird local populations, using drones to search for nests before and after launch and. It also “adopted” Boca Chica Beach through a Texas state program and sponsors quarterly cleanups it says have removed hundreds of pounds of trash.

A CNBC report last month, which SpaceX swiftly rebuked, alleged that the company violated the Clean Water Act. The Environmental Protection Agency, though, told FLYING it did indeed violate that law.

Days before Starship’s third test flight in March, the EPA issued an order directing the company to eliminate “unpermitted discharges,” citing a liquid oxygen spill from the flame deflector’s water deluge system that seeped into the surrounding wetlands. SpaceX was forced to apply for a new permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which it did in July, but still ate a fine of nearly $150,000 to resolve the violation.

In response, the company denied it ever discharged pollutants or operated the deluge system without TCEQ permission. According to SpaceX, the device uses “literal drinking water” and has been deemed safe by the FAA, TCEQ, and USFWS.

SpaceX further claimed that the EPA issued its order without knowledge of its TCEQ license or “a basic understanding of the facts” of the system’s operation. It added that the fines are “entirely tied to disagreements over paperwork” and stem from a simple misunderstanding.

“We chose to settle so that we can focus our energy on completing the missions and commitments that we have made to the U.S. government, commercial customers, and ourselves,” SpaceX said. “Paying fines is extremely disappointing when we fundamentally disagree with the allegations, and we are supported by the fact that EPA has agreed that nothing about the operation of our flame deflector will need to change. Only the name of the permit has changed.”

The proposed settlement is open for public comment until October 21.

Singled Out?

The implication by SpaceX is that it is being unfairly targeted for its successes.

The company is prolific within the commercial spaceflight industry—experts estimate it accounted for 87 percent of all spacecraft mass space operators sent into orbit in 2023. At the same time, it handles more NASA missions than any of the agency’s private contractors.

That dominance occasionally draws ire from competitors such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, or, as SpaceX puts it, “bad-faith hysterics from online detractors or special interest groups.”

“Despite a small, but vocal, minority of detractors trying to game the regulatory system to obstruct and delay the development of Starship, SpaceX remains committed to the mission at hand,” the company said.

NASA has made it known that it intends to become one of many customers within a commercial space ecosystem, rather than a service provider, by the end of the decade. As SpaceX continues to snap up NASA contracts—including an agreement to deorbit the International Space Station, ushering in that new era—rivals and critics may fear that its supremacy will only grow.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Takes Aim at FAA After Latest Starship Launch Delay appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The jets are owned by billionaire entrepreneur and Polaris Dawn commander Jared Isaacman, who purchased the five-day orbital mission and two other private astronaut flights from SpaceX in 2022. Among other feats, Polaris Dawn will ascend to orbital heights not reached since the Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 and feature the first attempt at a commercial spacewalk.

“The idea is to develop and test new technology and operations in furtherance of SpaceX’s bold vision to enable humankind to journey among the stars,” Isaacman said during a mission overview briefing on Monday.

But with those feats comes a degree of risk. At their apex, the astronauts will travel through a portion of the hazardous Van Allen radiation belts. And because the Dragon spacecraft that will carry the crew has no airlock, all four astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space during the historic spacewalk.

Polaris Dawn is scheduled to launch no earlier than 3:38 a.m. EDT on Monday within a four-hour window from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A. Earlier this week, the Dragon capsule was transported to the pad, where teams are mating it with a Falcon 9 booster that will make its fourth flight.

Joining Isaacman will be mission pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a longtime friend and coworker of the Shift4 Payments CEO. Poteet served as mission director for Inspiration4, a 2021 orbital mission—also purchased from SpaceX by Isaacman—that featured the first all-civilian crew.

Accompanying them will be the first SpaceX employees to actually fly to space—mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. Gillis, a SpaceX engineer and astronaut trainer, has prepared several NASA crews that have reached the final frontier and was Isaacman’s instructor for Inspiration4. Menon, the company’s lead space operations engineer, will also serve as Polaris Dawn’s medical officer.

This week, crewmembers will conduct a refresher on the mission’s nearly 40 planned experiments, dry dress rehearsal, and launch readiness review. They will spend a maximum of five days orbiting the Earth before splashing down at one of seven locations off the coast of Florida.

Great Heights

Polaris Dawn will waste no time achieving its objectives, beginning with a historic climb on day one.

Hitching a ride on Falcon 9, Dragon will reach space in about 10 minutes and within hours will begin to pass through the inner regions of the Van Allen Belts—a treacherous zone where the risk of damage from radiation is high.

“The Earth’s magnetosphere traps the high energy radiation particles and shields the Earth from the solar storms and the constantly streaming solar wind that can damage technology as well as people living on Earth,” according to NASA. “These trapped particles form two belts of radiation, known as the Van Allen Belts, that surround the Earth like enormous donuts.”

Dragon will ascend to an oval orbit with an apogee of 870 miles, more than three times higher than the International Space Station. It would be the highest orbital altitude reached by humans in half a century.

“Generally speaking, vehicles don’t like radiation, so that’s why we’re going to stay there for the shortest amount of time that’s necessary to gather the data we want,” said Isaacman.

In that time, however, the crew will perform plenty of experiments, leveraging the unique high-radiation environment to potentially learn from it. The Polaris program and SpaceX have partnered with more than 30 institutions around the world to perform the research, which will focus largely on human health.

“We are born into 1G,” said Menon. “When you go into 0G, whether it’s for five days or a nine-month trip to Mars, things change. You have bone density loss, you have vision changes, you have severe motion sickness, and we don’t have answers for all of that.”

To search for them, the astronauts will don special contact lenses that measure the pressure inside of their eyes and will test ways to reduce the disorientation experienced when returning to Earth, for example.

Research will continue throughout the mission. On the fourth day, the crew will test out a specially designed communication system in Dragon’s trunk, which will use laser beams to communicate with SpaceX Starlink satellites as they zip through space. According to Gillis, the demonstration will be livestreamed and worth tuning into, though she did not get into specifics.

Polaris Dawn is also a charitable endeavor, aiming to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Menon, for example, will debut a children’s book she wrote, the proceeds for which will go to cancer research, during day two of the flight. The SpaceX engineer said the company has installed Starlink terminals at hospitals nationwide to support remote medicine capabilities.

And in a fundraising partnership with Doritos, Polaris Dawn’s cargo will include a container of chips. According to its website, the initiative has raised $500,000. But there won’t be any sticky fingers—the classic Doritos “dust” has been replaced by a special oil-based coating designed to retain flavor.

Isaacman on Monday said Polaris Dawn has already raised “millions” for St. Jude and that he plans to continue the partnership for the Polaris II and Polaris III missions. Inspiration4 raised more than a quarter of a billion for the charity.

Suit Up

Reaching the Van Allen Belts would be a huge feat. But that’s arguably the second-most important—and risky—mission objective.

On the third day of the flight, two of the astronauts will don specially designed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits and exit Dragon. They will remain attached to the spacecraft—at one point by just their feet—using mobility aids to maneuver around. The vehicle will be oriented to shield the crew from direct sunlight.

The entire process, from venting to repressurization, will take about two hours and will be livestreamed. Each astronaut will spend 15 to 20 minutes outside the capsule.

“It will look like we’re doing a little bit of a dance,” said Isaacman, “…[but] we’re going through a test matrix on the suit. And the idea is to learn as much as we possibly can about this suit and get it back to the engineers to inform future suit design evolutions.”

But there’s a catch: Dragon does not have an airlock, which means all four crewmembers will be exposed to the vacuum of space.

To remedy this, they will perform a process known as “pre-breathing” beginning just one hour after reaching orbit. The procedure will acclimate the astronauts to a low-pressure environment by gradually reducing the pressure inside the capsule. According to Menon, the idea is to “slowly pull nitrogen out of our body and reduce our risk of decompression sickness.”

On the day of the spacewalk, their spacesuits will be pressurized with 100 percent oxygen for a final pre-breathe. The entire process will take about 45 hours.

Per Isaacman, the spacewalk portion of Polaris Dawn took up the bulk of mission planning, in part due to the development of SpaceX’s EVA suits.

The suits are an evolution of the company’s current apparel, which is designed to be worn only inside Dragon. The upgraded digs feature added mobility and materials pulled from Falcon 9’s trunk and interstage. A 3D-printed helmet includes a heads-up display, which shows spacesuit pressure, temperature, and humidity, as well as a clock to track the astronauts’ time in the void. The suit’s temperature can even be controlled using a dial.

“You might think that we would be extremely cold out in the vacuum of space, and actually we’re more concerned about being too warm,” said Menon.

The suits have undergone an “incredibly expensive testing campaign” with the crew, which has spent about 100 hours wearing them. Because the hardware is “constantly evolving,” per Menon, it could not be tested in a pool. Instead, the astronauts used special harnesses to simulate weightlessness and wore heavy down suits—the kind you’d need at the top of Mount Everest—over their EVA suits.

“We’re really trying to create an environment that doesn’t have convection, looking at thermals, looking at what we’ll actually experience in these suits,” said Menon. “We’ve covered everything from lifecycle testing, pressure testing, [micrometeoroid and orbital debris] testing, extreme hot and cold testing, [and] an entire campaign on [electrostatic discharge] and flammability testing.”

That level of rigor extended to the Dragon capsule, which itself required a few key modifications for the mission. SpaceX added a nitrogen repressurization system, for example, and made upgrades to the spacecraft’s environmental sensors and life support system.

“This includes adding a lot more oxygen to the spacecraft so we can feed oxygen to four suits through umbilicals for the full duration of the spacewalk,” said Menon.

Outside Dragon’s hatch, engineers installed what SpaceX calls the Skywalker, a structure that will help the astronauts find their footing in zero gravity. Atop the Skywalker is a new camera that will capture footage of the spacewalk. Handholds and footholds were added to the capsule’s interior.

In addition, all of that hardware has been “baked out” in a thermal vacuum chamber, Menon said, to burn off chemicals that could produce toxic gas when the capsule is vented.

Thousands of Hours

The astronauts have already prepared extensively for the spacewalk. They recently walked through the entire prebreathe process and venting and repressurization sequence, for example, inside the vacuum chamber at Johnson Space Center.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg.

“I can tell you without a doubt this has been some of the most challenging training that I’ve ever experienced, and I could not imagine a more qualified crew than these three individuals,” said Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and member of the Thunderbirds.

The astronauts performed zero-gravity flights in the vacuum chamber, trained in a centrifuge to experience g-forces, and spent time in an altitude chamber to get familiar with symptoms of hypoxia—a condition caused by low oxygen levels in the body. The crew also used a pressure chamber to practice many of the experiments they will conduct in space back on Earth. Gillis and Menon underwent medical training at partner hospitals to be qualified to care for the team.

Each crewmember also spent about 2,000 hours in a simulator, poring over spacecraft and system manuals, communication methods, crew resource management, and contingency scenarios.

“To put this into perspective, I flew fighters for 20 years—I accomplished about 1,500 hours in the simulator training for combat,” said Poteet.

Another key component of training was, as Poteet put it, “getting comfortable in uncomfortable scenarios.” Over the past few years, the crew has gone scuba diving and skydiving, flown fighter jets, and even summited Cotopaxi in Ecuador, a nearly 20,000-foot peak.

“When it’s a multiday journey to get to the summit, you’re dehydrated, you’re hungry, you’re grouchy…it sucks,” said Poteet. “And you learn a lot about yourself under this stressful environment, and you learn a lot about each other.”

‘The 737 for Human Spaceflight’

Though it was purchased by an outside stakeholder, Polaris Dawn has some major implications for SpaceX.

For one, it will be the company’s first mission with crew since Falcon 9 was grounded by the FAA in July. The rocket was quickly cleared for a return to action and has since completed several Starlink launches.

But the mission’s success—or lack thereof—could also inform the timeline of SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions purchased by Isaacman. Little is known about the second, Polaris II, which will also use Dragon and Falcon 9. But Polaris III is intended to be the debut human spaceflight mission for Starship, which so far has completed four orbital test flights.

“It could very well be the [Boeing] 737 for human spaceflight someday,” said Isaacman. “But it’ll certainly be the vehicle that will return humans to the moon and then on to Mars and beyond.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has grand ambitions for Starship, such as ferrying humans to Mars in order to create a colony. But they will hinge on the company remaining on schedule—and, hopefully, learning as much as possible about its EVA spacesuits during Polaris Dawn.

Within one week of Dragon’s splashdown, the firm plans to host a Polaris Dawn mission debrief and question-and-answer session on X Spaces.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Polaris Dawn Is SpaceX’s Most Experimental—and Risky—Human Spaceflight Yet appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Not according to the company, which took to social media platform X, owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to rebut a report published Monday.

Sources within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shared with CNBC previously unreported notices and investigative records, which allege that SpaceX violated several clean water regulations. The company employs a water deluge system, common at launchpads such as Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, to absorb heat and vibrations from firing rocket engines.

But according to CNBC, the firm’s use of that system this year—including during the third orbital test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, and the Super Heavy booster—may be discharging industrial wastewater without TCEQ or EPA permission.

SpaceX swiftly refuted the CNBC report in a lengthy post on X, characterizing the story as “factually inaccurate.”

According to the company, the water deluge system uses potable, or drinking, water and has been authorized for operation by both the TCEQ and EPA, which filed their notices one week and five months ago, respectively.

“Throughout our ongoing coordination with both TCEQ and the EPA, we have explicitly asked if operation of the deluge system needed to stop and we were informed that operations could continue,” SpaceX said.

Neither agency immediately responded to FLYING’s request for comment.

Typically, a launch provider must be compliant with state and federal laws to obtain launch permissions from the FAA. On Monday, the aviation regulator postponed several meetings intended for stakeholders to provide feedback on SpaceX’s proposal to launch Starship from Starbase as many as 25 times per year. The agency did not provide a reason for the postponements.

“The FAA apologizes for any inconvenience,” it said. “Public meetings will be rescheduled; however, the docket remains open to receive public comments.”

Conflicting Accounts

Interestingly, CNBC and SpaceX cite the same sources to make their respective claims, raising questions about whether one party received bad information.

Starbase’s deluge system was installed after Starship’s maiden flight in April 2023, the impact of which sent debris flying miles away, led to an FAA investigation, and brought a lawsuit against the agency and SpaceX from five environmental groups. It was first tested in July with TCEQ personnel onsite, SpaceX said.

But regulators told CNBC the firm skipped a crucial step in the permitting process related to wastewater management. In its notice to SpaceX, TCEQ said it received 14 complaints claiming that the deluge system was harming the surrounding environment, including one last August alleging that Starbase was discharging industrial wastewater without a permit. 

Last month, a TCEQ investigation found that SpaceX did so four times between March and July. According to a SpaceX permit filing viewed by CNBC, some of that water contained concentrations of mercury that exceed water quality limits.

SpaceX on Monday, however, painted a very different picture. According to the company, no water samples tested were found to have mercury levels above EPA limits. It elaborated on Tuesday with another post claiming that the figures the outlet viewed were simply incorrect.

“While there may be a typo in one table of the initial TCEQ’s public version of the permit application, the rest of the application and the lab reports clearly states that levels of Mercury found in non-stormwater discharge associated with the water deluge system are well below state and federal water quality criteria,” the company said.

The firm flatly denied that any industrial wastewater is spewing from Starbase, claiming that the deluge system’s potable water is never used in or exposed to industrial processes.

It also said the landing pad is power washed prior to activating the system and that soil, air, and water samples are analyzed by an independent laboratory after each use. According to the company, most of the water is either vaporized by the heat of the engines or captured in special ponds, with only a tiny amount escaping the pad.

SpaceX further claimed it is well within its right to operate the system.

The EPA sent the company a formal notice of violation of the Clean Water Act the day before Starship’s third test flight in March. But according to the firm, the agency made a mistake.

“When the EPA issued their administrative order in March 2024, it was done without an understanding of basic facts of the deluge system’s operation or acknowledgement that we were operating under the Texas Multi-Sector General Permit,” SpaceX said.

Per the company’s version of events, the EPA agreed to allow it to continue using the system as it worked toward obtaining an individual permit from TCEQ, “because the deluge system has always complied with common conditions set by an individual permit, and causes no harm to the environment.”

It submitted a permit application on July 1 and said the agency is expected to issue a draft individual permit and agreed compliance order this week.

If SpaceX is ultimately found to be in violation of TCEQ and EPA rules, it could have a ripple effect on the Starship program, which is under pressure to meet obligations for NASA’s Artemis moon mission program as well as commercial customers.

According to the company, the rocket is ready to launch on its fifth test flight pending regulatory approval, but that may be difficult to obtain if it isn’t compliant with regulations. The firm will need to complete several more Starship test flights before the spacecraft is authorized for service missions.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Pushes Back on Rocket Launch Pollution Report appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Last week, Blue Origin filed a public comment to the FAA requesting that the regulator limit the number of launches of SpaceX’s Starship—the largest and most powerful rocket ever built—out of Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which currently hosts the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The FAA in May released a SpaceX proposal for high-frequency Starship operations at Kennedy, including the construction of infrastructure that would allow Musk’s firm to complete 44 launches per year.

The filing is the latest wrinkle in the multiyear feud between Musk and Bezos, who have exchanged taunts and legal actions as they battle for supremacy in the commercial spaceflight industry. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have obtained contracts from U.S. government agencies such as NASA and the Pentagon and intend to make cosmic tourism a piece of their business.

“Sue Origin,” Musk bantered on social media platform X, which he acquired in 2022.

In a subsequent post, the SpaceX boss added, “An obviously disingenuous response. Not cool of them to try (for the third time) to impede SpaceX’s progress by lawfare.”

The public comment filed by Blue Origin has no legal bearing, but the FAA will consider it as it determines what restrictions to place on Starship at Kennedy.

SpaceX is seeking a commercial launch vehicle operator license for Starship operations at Launch Complex 39-A, which will require the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS describes the potential effects of those operations on the surrounding environment and was required for SpaceX to begin the Starship orbital test flight program, for example. SpaceX will prepare the assessment itself under FAA supervision.

During Starship’s maiden voyage, which ended in a ball of flames a few minutes into the mission, the impact from the launch caused unexpected damage as far as 6 miles away from the Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas. The force of Starship broke windows, sent ashy debris into the sky, and brought an FAA investigation into SpaceX’s environmental mitigations, grounding the rocket for months. Five environmental groups sued the FAA over its handling of the mission.

Since then, SpaceX has made several improvements to Starbase to contain Starship’s debris field, and subsequent missions have resulted in little fanfare. However, it appears Blue Origin will use the incident as leverage in its plea to the FAA.

“At Starbase, Starship and Super Heavy test missions have been subject to environmental scrutiny due to their impact on the local environment and community,” the public comment reads, citing the aforementioned lawsuit against the regulator as evidence.

Blue Origin too launches operations out of Kennedy. The company leases Space Launch Complex-36 and occupies several hangars, as well as a manufacturing site, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), which it says are close to the area SpaceX wants to use.

“Blue Origin employs over 2,700 full-time employees in [Florida’s] Brevard County, including 449 employees at CCSFS that are directly impacted by local launch activities,” the filing reads. “Blue Origin has invested more than $1 billion in capital expenditures to develop [Launch Complex-36] as the first privately built heavy-lift launch complex in the world.”

The company said it worries about the safety of property and personnel during a Starship launch anomaly, such as an explosion, fire, debris, or loud noise. It also argued that Starship operations could impede Blue Origin’s access to shared infrastructure and “limited airspace and maritime resources.”

Starship and the Super Heavy booster hold about 5,200 metric tons of liquid methane for propulsion—the force of which, Blue Origin claims, would impede company and government activities at Kennedy due to the anticipated requirement of a safety margin around the site.

The firm urged the FAA to place a cap on the number of Starship launches, specify and limit launch times, and invest in infrastructure that would make Kennedy and CCSFS safer and more accessible for other launch providers.

It also suggested that SpaceX and the government be required to compensate Blue Origin or other companies whose commercial activities are impacted by Starship, as well as mandatory penalties for SpaceX should it violate the EIS or its license.

Given Bezos’ history with Musk, it’s difficult to say whether genuine concern, a desire to hamper the competition, or both prompted the comment.

Blue Origin is developing an alternative to Starship, New Glenn, but the rocket has faced delays and has yet to fly. New Glenn has collected a handful of customers, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper and NASA, which intends to launch it to Mars on its maiden voyage later this year.

NASA was at the center of the most publicized dispute between Blue Origin and SpaceX. After the space agency tapped SpaceX as the sole provider of a human landing system (HLS) for Artemis missions to the moon, Bezos in 2021 took NASA to court, arguing that it had promised two contracts.

The company would ultimately lose that battle. But the space agency in 2023 announced Blue Origin as the second Artemis HLS provider. Both companies are now working with NASA to develop a revamped plan for the Mars Sample Return Program, each receiving a $1.5 million contract.

The firms are also competing in the military sphere. In 2022, Blue Origin lost out on a pair of Pentagon contracts at the expense of SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. But earlier this month, it secured its own agreement with the U.S. Space Force for 30 military launches, worth up to $5.6 billion.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Blue Origin Urges FAA to Cap SpaceX Launches at Kennedy appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Starship and the Super Heavy booster finally made it back to Earth following the spacecraft’s fourth integrated flight test (IFT-4), which was the main goal of the mission that launched from Boca Chica, Texas. As SpaceX put it, “the payload for this test was the data.”

Super Heavy splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico after jettisoning from Starship about four minutes into the flight. Starship, meanwhile, flew nearly halfway around the world over the course of about 40 minutes before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

External cameras and on board Starlink satellites gave viewers a rare live look at Starship’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere from its suborbital flight path. The video feed appeared to show the loss of several heat shield tiles and damage to one of the flaps—which control the vehicle as it decelerates from hypersonic speeds—as plasma built up around the spacecraft.

Live footage cut in and out several times, prompting cheers from the SpaceX team each time the feed was restored. Crews toasted marshmallows in celebration of Starship’s inaugural landing burn, which slowed it down for a “soft” ocean landing. Then, finally, after much anticipation, the gargantuan spacecraft splashed down for the first time at T-plus 1 hour and 6 minutes.

“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a post on X, the social media platform he acquired in 2022. “Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic achievement!!”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who is betting on Starship to complete the necessary test flights in time for SpaceX to prepare a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) for the Artemis III mission—NASA’s first lunar landing attempt since the Apollo missions—also sang the praises of IFT-4.

After successfully making it to suborbit and back, the arrow is pointing up for Starship.

Each of the spacecraft’s first two integrated test flights ended in explosions, and its third was cut short just after reentering the atmosphere. All three attempts resulted in the spacecraft’s grounding by the FAA.

But SpaceX painted these as successes. According to the company, Starship’s development falls under its philosophy of rapid design iteration. Essentially, the firm is okay with blowing up a few rockets if it can collect data that helps it hone the design, increasing the chances of success on future launches.

A reentry and soft landing was the primary objective of Thursday’s flight test, validating that Starship and Super Heavy—which are designed to be reusable—could survive the extreme conditions during approach and landing.

At present, it’s unclear whether the extent of the damage will prevent the rocket from flying again. But with both stages back on Earth, it seems unlikely that the FAA would move to ground Starship for a fourth time.

“The fourth flight of Starship made major strides to bring us closer to a rapidly reusable future,” SpaceX said in an update on its website. “Its accomplishments will provide data to drive improvements as we continue rapidly developing Starship into a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars, and beyond.”

That would mean Musk and SpaceX can turn to the next step in Artemis preparations: an in-orbit propellant transfer demonstration. Following that, Starship will need to complete an uncrewed lunar landing, which could require multiple launches.

The final phase will be a crewed flight test, in which the spacecraft will land billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman on the moon. Isaacman is the driving force behind the Polaris Program, which in 2022 purchased three flights from SpaceX in an effort to advance human spaceflight. The program’s first mission, Polaris Dawn, is expected to launch this summer on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. It will culminate in the crewed flight of Starship.

It’s difficult to gauge exactly how many Starship launches SpaceX will need to complete before the rocket is certified for routine missions. But the company is under a time crunch.

Already, Artemis III has been pushed back from 2025 to September 2026. And NASA, facing competition from Russia, China, and others to expand the envelope for human spaceflight, will likely want to stick to that timeline.

If that’s the case, SpaceX will need to see continued positive results from rapid design interaction. The good news is that Starship appears to be on the right trajectory.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Starship’s Fourth Test Flight Is Rocket’s Most Successful Yet appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The company’s massive rocket and Super Heavy booster, which when stacked together stand nearly 400 feet tall, have been grounded since March as the FAA conducts a mishap investigation into Starship’s third uncrewed orbital test flight.

However, Musk on Saturday posted an image to social media platform X—which he acquired in October 2022—of Starship and Super Heavy being moved back to the company’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, which hosted the rocket’s first three test flights.

In response to a query about the date of the fourth flight, called Integrated Flight Test 4 or IFT-4, Musk gave a timeline of three to five weeks. That would place the next launch sometime in June.

SpaceX has a hit-or-miss track record when it comes to predicting Starship launches. Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s chief operating officer, said in March for example that IFT-4 could launch as soon as early May.

During the lead-up to Starship’s second test flight, which ultimately launched in November, Musk gave a timeline of six to eight weeks in April and again in June. In September, he said the rocket was “ready to launch” and was swiftly rebuffed by the FAA. However, on November 3, SpaceX correctly predicted that Starship would launch again by the middle of the month.

Starship’s three test flights have improved on each attempt but resulted in groundings of varying lengths by the FAA. The agency’s initial investigation spanned from April to November. The second took half as long, wrapping up between November and February.

Given the improvements made to Starship and Starbase before the rocket’s second flight test—such as the installation of a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launch pad to contain debris—and the relative success of its third flight test, SpaceX could be looking at a similar timeline of around three months for the current investigation. That would put it in line to close in June, making Musk’s prediction appear feasible.

Musk and SpaceX have already set ambitious goals for Starship’s fourth flight. The biggest will be to survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, which is where the previous mission failed. Both Starship and the Super Heavy booster are designed to be reusable.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Starship Will Fly Again in 3-5 Weeks, Elon Musk Predicts appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The agency says it plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the potential effects of awarding a commercial launch vehicle operator license for Starship operations at Kennedy’s Launch Complex-39A. To date, all Starship test flights have launched from SpaceX’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, which serves as its primary research, development, and flight test facility for the gargantuan rocket.

SpaceX will need to obtain a vehicle operator license before launching Starship from Kennedy, an action that falls under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the FAA says. As such, it and NASA determined an EIS to be the appropriate level of scrutiny. 

SpaceX will prepare the assessment itself under FAA supervision, at NASA’s request. Obtaining the EIS would not guarantee the issuance of a vehicle operator license, but it is a required step under NEPA.

SpaceX’s proposal calls for the construction of launch, landing, and other infrastructure at Launch Complex-39A that would support as many as 44 launches per year using Starship and the company’s Super Heavy booster. The site hosts launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The new infrastructure would allow Starship—which is designed to be reusable—to land back on the launchpad or a droneship, a sea-borne landing platform. The proposal also calls for expendable rocket and booster landings in the Atlantic Ocean.

The FAA will hold one virtual and three in-person public scoping meetings, inviting relevant agencies and organizations, local Native American tribes, and members of the public to submit comments on the potential environmental impacts of the proposal.

The submission period for public comments opened Friday with the publication in the Federal Register of an FAA notice of intent to prepare the EIS. Stakeholders can attend in-person scoping meetings on June 12 and 13, followed by a virtual meeting on June 17. More information is available on the FAA website.

Starship so far has flown three uncrewed orbital test flights, each more successful than the last. However, the first of those flights, which launched in April 2023, caused a litany of unintended environmental effects, shattering windows and sending plumes of ashy particulate as far as 6 miles away from Starbase.

The debris field created by the launch had a far wider radius than anticipated, due in part to SpaceX’s decision to forgo the installation of a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launchpad. A water deluge system was installed for Starship’s second test flight, which greatly improved containment of the debris field.

Following Starship’s first test flight, a coalition of environmental groups also sued the FAA over its handling of the launch. The groups accuse the agency of allowing SpaceX to take the reins on evaluating the rocket’s environmental impact.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX Pitches High-Frequency Starship Operations at Kennedy Space Center appeared first on FLYING Magazine.