SpaceX gears up for Starship launch as Musk controversy swirls / Photo: SERGIO FLORES - AFP
SpaceX gears up for Starship launch as Musk controversy swirls
SpaceX prepared for the next test flight of its massive Starship prototype rocket Thursday, as scrutiny grows over founder Elon Musk's influence on the US government's space program.
The world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle is set to blast off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, in a launch window that opens at 5:30 pm local time (2330 GMT).
It will be Starship's eighth orbital mission -- all so far uncrewed -- and the first since its dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean during its last trial. Earlier attempts to carry out the test were called off on Monday and Wednesday.
Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall -- about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable and is key to Musk's vision of colonizing Mars.
Meanwhile, NASA is awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded Starship after its flight on January 16 ended with the upper stage disintegrating in a fiery cascade over the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting cleanup efforts for fallen debris.
Last Friday, the FAA announced that Starship could proceed with its next flight before the agency finalizes its review of SpaceX's "mishap investigation."
During Joe Biden's presidency, Musk frequently accused the FAA of excessively scrutinizing SpaceX over safety and environmental concerns.
Now, as President Donald Trump's cost-cutter-in-chief, the world's richest person faces allegations of wielding undue influence over regulatory agencies overseeing his companies.
According to Bloomberg News, a SpaceX engineer went to the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters two weeks ago and told employees they risked losing their jobs if they did not start work on a program to deploy thousands of the company's Starlink satellite terminals in support of the national airspace system.
Telecoms giant Verizon currently has a contract to upgrade the FAA's infrastructure but now risks losing it, Bloomberg added. SpaceX said in a post that "recent media reports about SpaceX and the FAA are false."
For the upcoming flight, SpaceX says it has introduced numerous upgrades to the upper-stage spaceship that enhance its reliability and performance.
The mission, expected to last just over an hour, includes another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms -- a feat SpaceX has successfully executed twice, including in the last flight.
Additionally, Starship will deploy Starlink simulators designed to mimic Starlink satellites, which will burn up upon atmospheric re-entry.
Eventually, SpaceX aims to recover the upper stage as well, but for now, it is targeting splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia, as in previous flights.
L.Guglielmino--PV
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