SpaceX founder shares photograph of the next four Starships for test flight

Last week, SpaceX launched the second integrated Starship test flight but it failed to achieve Earth’s orbit. However, people already want to see the next Starship flight launch test and SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk has shared a photograph to anticipate the upcoming Starship test missions.

Musk shared a photograph today on social media site, X directly from SpaceX Starbase, showing four Starships with the caption “Four more Starships, the last of V1”. So, it could mean that these may be the last of the version 1 Starship vehicles.

On November 18, SpaceX launched the 2nd integrated Starship flight and it took off successfully from the launch pad. The second flight achieved the hot staging and separated the booster from the Starship vehicle.

Source – X/Twitter

Unfortunately, the booster occurred rapid unscheduled disassembly and blasted off in the air just a few seconds after it performed a boost back maneuver.

Following the first stage separation, Starship also fired its engines with all of the force and moved ahead. The flight continued for several minutes until the Starship lost connection with the flight command center.

In the aftermath, it was found that the Starship launch pad endured the durability test against the most powerful rocket thrust. Also, the first stage separation is another big outcome of the entire launch sequence that will help the company to master it the third time.

Speaking of which, the Starship Flight 3 hardware could be ready to fly within around mid-December, said Musk earlier this week. He also mentioned that there are numerous ships in the final production in the high bay “as can be seen from the highway”. The SpaceX chief might be talking about those ships shown in the photograph shared today.

Following the first test in April, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave SpaceX a list of changes and improvements in order to get the second flight test approval. The entire process took months before SpaceX finally received a green signal to conduct the second integrated Starship flight test.

Since SpaceX already met most of the regulatory requirements, it may not take longer time to approve the Starship 3 flight.