After two catastrophic failures, we believed that Spacex would not risk with the next starship. We were wrong

Starship’s next flight will be one of the most tense in the history of the rocket. Not only because the last two releases will end in paths explosions and with deviated airplanes to avoid the rain of rubble. Also because it will be the first time that Spacex reuse a rocket.

Zero-Touch reflight. In addition to a 123 meters high mole, Starship is the first rocket designed to be quickly reusable. Spacex’s idea is that Starship takes off, lands and throws himself again after a few hours, as if it were a commercial plane.

The company has partially advanced in this Objective of “Zero-Touch Desflight” or relaunch without intervention. The first stage of the rocket, the 33 -engines Super Heavy propeller, has landed in the arms of the launch tower three times: Booster 12 in flight test 5, Booster 14 in flight test 7 and Booster 15 in flight test 8.

It was planned that the second stage of the rocket, the six -engines Starship ship, would make its first landing attempt during flight 9. To do this, the earth would orbit and re -enter the atmosphere until they perch on the arms of the second launch tower; Already finished in Starbase, Texas. However, the last two starship exploded at 8 minutes of takeoff For a defect in a redesign recent.

A second -hand super heavy. The expected thing was that Spacex was taken calmly to flight 9 to compensate for the last failures, but the company has just announced a surprising decision. The next launch, scheduled for mid -April (if the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States is approved), will be done reusing the booster 14 of flight 7.

This propeller first took off on January 16, 2025 and, after separating from the Starship ship, returned to the launch base to become the second Super Heavy that Spacex has captured with the arms of the Mechazilla tower. Of the 33 Raptor engines that you will wear during your second launch, 29 are already used engines.

Another rocket that lands and takes off. The only orbital rocket with demonstrated capacity for propulsive landing is the Falcon 9 of Spacex. Specifically, its first stage, which usually lands in an autonomous barge in the ocean after throwing satellites or spacecraft. A few weeks later, you are ready to reuse (Generally, in Starlink missions).

The second rocket to get it could be Starship, also from Spacex. Not in the “Zero-Touch reflight” mode, but after a restoration process and changing some engines, but it is a first step. And in fact, it is a step that nobody else has achieved apart from Spacex. The company that is closest is Blue Origin, who tried unsuccessfully on the opening flight of the New Glenn rocket. In China, Landspace is also achieved with his Zhuque 3 rocket.

There will be no second capture. The bad news is that Spacex will not try to capture the Booster 14. The rocket, which has just passed some ignition tests on land, will merit in a controlled way in the Gulf of Mexico to test a more pronounced attack angle during the re -entry, which in the future will allow you to perform other flight profiles.

Anyway, all eyes will be put in the Starship 35the third ship of the “Block 2” version. Its two predecessors exploded shortly after separating from the Super Heavy propeller, both for a flight of propellents due to excessive vibrations in the engines area. Starship 33 disintegrated after a fire and Starship 34 lost control after the explosion of an engine.

The investigation of flight 8 is still open, so FAA has not yet given its authorization for flight 9. Even so, we should not take long to see it, taking into account that the rocket is almost ready and the renewed political power of Elon Musk It has already allowed accelerating the procedures in the previous releases.

Image | Spacex

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