SpaceX Starship 5 could be flight ready within a month

SpaceX Starship Test Flight 5 could be ready for launch within a month says Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of the space launch vehicle company. On Thursday, Starship launched for the fourth time from Starbase Texas and completed all of the milestones for the first time.

Among the primary objectives, SpaceX achieved a splash down for the first stage in the Gulf of Mexico following a landing burn. The second stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and endured a full-fledged descent. The reentry was the hardest part of this mission but the heat shield performed well compared to the third test.

While maintaining its trajectory, Starship’s maximum velocity gradually declined. However, one of its flaps fired up due to the transonic speed. Despite that, the spacecraft measured its remaining distance to the splash zone and performed a flip maneuver before swimming in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX Starship Test Flight 4 33 Raptor Engine Ignition during liftoff (Source – SpaceX)

SpaceX took at least two months to complete all tests and pre-flight activities on Starship and Super Heavy booster. Simultaneously, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a mishap investigation for Flight 3. The latest launch comes one and a half months earlier than the third test in March this year.

Interestingly, there’s work in progress on the next ship and booster. On May 8, the firm completed static fire for this new spacecraft ahead of Starship 4’s launch. That showed that the company is working on two test flights at the same time.

“SpaceX could launch Starship rocket again in about a month,” said Musk during an X live stream on Sunday.

Current preparations around Flight 5 give weight to Musk’s statement and new tests are pending for the next few weeks. SpaceX Starship Flight 5 aims to land on a landing platform instead of sea.

From the current perspective, the earliest launch window for this new rocket could open by the end of July. However, we need to wait for official plans on this matter.