Tech Geek on Nostr: For SpaceX's next Starship test flight, surviving hypersonic return is key ...

For SpaceX's next Starship test flight, surviving hypersonic return is key



SpaceX's giant Starship rocket is scheduled for a fourth test flight to space on Thursday with a tricky primary objective: survive a blazingly hot re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, the violent phase where the rocket broke apart during its last attempt.

Starship, a two-stage rocket standing nearly 400 feet (122 meters) tall, is poised to launch from SpaceX's rocket facilities in south Texas as early as 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) for the latest trial mission in the test-to-failure rocket development campaign of Elon Musk's company.