Hi friends, it’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Maybe, like me over the break, you watched this new camera angle from SpaceX of the thrilling second launch of the most powerful rocket in human history.
Also on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Elon Musk broke more news when answering a question from space photographer John Kraus, of Satellite Beach.
Kraus asked when Starship could be ready for a third flight test, and Musk said in just three or four weeks!
Now, while that sounds very exciting and could be true from a technical standpoint, we know Starship won’t be cleared for takeoff again while the FAA’s review of flight two (its triumphs and its mishaps) is ongoing.
Like the previous tests, SpaceX will need a new launch license, and last time in this process, flight two ultimately happened seven months after flight one, much longer than Elon estimated.
Of course, there were many improvements in this latest attempt that won’t demand some of same upgrades as before, like to Starship’s launchpad, which this time, Musk says was not damaged.
However, if a third flight test could really happen in just a few weeks, I can’t help but wonder if yet again it would end prematurely in an explosion. This time, wouldn’t it be a lot more fulfilling for all of us rooting for its success to see Starship reach orbit and hopefully, make a splashdown, too?
I would think a substantial improvement on the progress of the first two tests would require taking as much time as necessary to go over the data and learn what caused the destruction of the super heavy booster and the spacecraft, as well.
What do you think? Could everything really come together for Musk and SpaceX by the end of the year?
📧 Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any other topics you’d like to discuss, shoot me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After seven years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!