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3d ago

FAA Clears SpaceX for Starship Flight 10 After Mishap Findings

Regulatory acceptance follows SpaceX reports that pinpointed hardware failures behind recent explosions.

SpaceX's Super Heavy booster is seen TMonday, May 26 on the launch pad, with Starship atop as it is prepared for its ninth mission targeted for May 27 from the company's Starbase launchpad on an uncrewed test flight.
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Overview

  • SpaceX targets Sunday, Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET for Flight 10 from Starbase in South Texas, according to company schedules reported this week.
  • Planned booster trials include a flip, boostback and multiple landing-burn experiments with a deliberate core-engine shutdown to test redundancy before a hover and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Upper-stage objectives include deploying eight Starlink simulator payloads, performing a single Raptor engine reignition in space, and evaluating heat-shield changes with removed tiles and new metallic tiles, including an actively cooled variant.
  • Company investigations attribute May’s flight breakup to a Super Heavy fuel transfer tube structural failure and a Starship tank pressurization diffuser issue, while the June test-stand loss of Ship 36 was traced to undetected damage in a nitrogen COPV.
  • The FAA says it oversaw and accepted SpaceX’s findings to allow the next launch, as outside experts voice doubts about the Starship upper stage’s feasibility despite SpaceX’s iterative test-and-fix approach.