SpaceX tiptoes toward Starship’s fifth test flight

SpaceX is tiptoeing toward Starship’s next test flight, known as Integrated Flight Test 5 (IFT-5), as it gained approval from one federal agency today but still needs one more.

Starship test flights are arguably the most anticipated SpaceX launches currently. The improvement of SpaceX’s performance through the first four flights has been very impressive, with the most recent IFT-4 being the best performance yet.

SpaceX is working toward its next IFT. In July, CEO Elon Musk said the fifth flight would occur in early August, but we are past that point. Now, it all depends on when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approve Starship for its fifth IFT.

It took a step forward earlier today as the FCC became the first of the two agencies to approve the test flight:

Ready for Starship5 launch! pic.twitter.com/hiNlOm8IB5

— Tsla Chan (@Tslachan) August 19, 2024

This is a step forward in SpaceX’s plans for the next Starship test, but the FAA approval is significantly more important.

The FCC approval is key as well, but the FAA has the ultimate say in whether the Starship launch can occur.

As previously mentioned, the previous four test flights have yielded improvements each time. While IFT-1 and IFT-2 were listed as “failures,” they both went well. However, it was not until IFT-3 that SpaceX’s launch was considered a success.

SpaceX aces fourth Starship flight test

SpaceX had fewer things to analyze after the successful launch and the FAA had no post-launch investigations to do like it had to do with other launches.

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