SpaceX Teases First Orbital Starship Launch

Lifting the money quote from Teslarati:

A senior SpaceX director expects the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to grant a license for the first orbital launch of its next-generation Starship rocket in the “very near future.”

Speaking at the 2023 Space Mobility Conference, SpaceX Senior Director of National Security Space Solutions Gary Henry also indicated that Starship remains on track to launch as early as March 2023. Six weeks ago, CEO Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX had “a real shot at [a] late February” Starship launch, adding that a “March launch attempt [appeared] highly likely.” February is now out of reach. But March may still be a viable target, according to Henry.

You've got to love the "expect some must see TV" teaser in there!

We know that the biggest hurdles to preparing for this launch have been crossed already: the Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) and the 31 Engine static firing that should have been 33 engines, but was "close enough."  We've since learned that the static firing was run at about 50% thrust, and since we calculated that the thrust produced to break the current record for highest thrust ever generated by a booster would have been 64% of max, that record still stands.  

We learned today from Gary Henry that the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) wasn't damaged by that static firing, and while they're installing some additional shielding on the OLM now, and will install the water deluge system we've talked about, that'll be after the first test flight.  Adding that deluge system will take months and delay the orbital test longer than they're willing to accept.   

Check out these pictures of the OLM updates from Starship Gazer on Twitter.

The surest sign that we're getting closer to launch will be when they transport Ship 24 back to the test area and stack it on top of B7 again.  There are lots of things going on but it looks to me like they should be ready to fly by around the middle of March. 

While not part of the flow of material for the first launch, the expendable Starship prototype, SN26, was cryo tested today.  As usual, there's no specific, "we passed!" posting anywhere, but it looked pretty routine.  Nothing popped that I could determine.  That said, I didn't watch the whole several hour test.  I expect that Ship 26 will be rolled back to the Shipyard soon. FWIW, there are videos on YouTube claiming that 26 is going to be an on-orbit tanker and will not re-enter for re-use.