Starship Flight 7: Successful Launch and Booster Catch But Starship Spacecraft Failed (VIDEO)

SpaceX is gearing up for the seventh test flight of its next-generation Starship rocket. Reports suggest a tentative launch date of early January 2025 for Starship Flight 7.

Starship Flight 7 Launch Is A Success

On 16 January 2025, SpaceX conducted its seventh Starship test flight, achieving several significant milestones.

The Starship rocket launched from Boca Chica Beach, Texas, carrying 10 dummy satellites, and reached near-world orbit before targeting a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean.

Notably, for the second time, SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster using its mechanical arms, known as “chopsticks,” shortly after liftoff. This catch demonstrated improvements following a previous incident that damaged the robotic arms.

The flight also featured enhancements to the avionics system, including smarter engine management protocols allowing for critical operations like engine relights in space. Additionally, the heat shield technology saw significant upgrades with a new generation of heat tiles designed to withstand the extreme conditions of reentry.

Despite a loss of communication with the Starship spacecraft mid-flight, the test provided valuable data for SpaceX’s ongoing development of reusable launch systems. These advancements are crucial steps toward Elon Musk’s vision of using Starships for missions to the moon and Mars.

SpaceX Starship Flight 7 Broadcast

The company will stream the event live, with coverage starting approximately 35 minutes before the launch, from the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.

The live stream will be available on the X platform and on the SpaceX website.

FAA Approved Starship Flight 7

On Tuesday, 17 December, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved SpaceX’s 7th Starship test flight.

“This license modification that we are issuing is well ahead of the Starship Flight 7 launch date and is another example of the FAA’s commitment to enable safe space transportation,” said Kelvin B. Coleman, FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.

Super Heavy Booster – Pre-Flight Testing Complete

The Super Heavy booster, which forms the first stage of the Starship system, has been moved to the launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, for pre-flight preparations. SpaceX shared an image of the 70m-tall booster.

As part of these preparations, SpaceX conducted a static fire test earlier this week. During the test, the booster’s 33 Raptor engines fired simultaneously for 18 seconds, generating an extraordinary 17 million pounds of thrust. This thrust cements its status as the most powerful rocket ever built.

Following a review of the static fire test results, SpaceX plans to stack the Starship spacecraft atop the booster, completing the vehicle’s towering 120-metre height.

Starship Flight 7’s Key Objectives

The seventh test flight will serve as a crucial milestone in SpaceX’s iterative development of the Starship system.

The goals for this mission include:

• Successful stage separation between the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft.
• Booster recovery shortly after separation to enable reusability.
• Further testing of the Starship upper stage’s ability to perform in orbital conditions.

Preparing for Lunar and Beyond

The Starship rocket is integral to NASA’s Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027. This mission will mark the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo and include the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon.

SpaceX also envision using the Starship system for Mars exploration and colonisation – a long-term goal tied to Elon Musk’s vision of making humanity a multiplanetary species.

Stay Tuned as Orbital Today Follows the Launch

As always, we’ll keep you updated on everything that happens as we get closer to the launch date for Starship Flight 7. Stay tuned!