The Starship 24 prototype is stacked on top of the Super Heavy 7 booster prototype at the company’s facility near Brownsville, Texas on January 9, 2023.
SpaceX
WASHINGTON — SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Wednesday that the company plans to test the Starship milestone this week.
SpaceX on Thursday will conduct a “static fire,” simultaneously testing all 33 engines on the base of the Starship rocket booster. The company conducted a test firing of 14 of the engines in November, as it attempted to launch into orbit with the Starship prototype.
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“Tomorrow is a big day for SpaceX,” Shotwell said at the FAA’s annual Commercial Space Transportation conference in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell
Jay Westcott/NASA
The Starship is a 400-foot-tall rocket designed to carry cargo and people beyond Earth. It’s also important to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon, with SpaceX winning a nearly $3 billion contract from the agency by 2021.
Last month the company completed a “wet dress exercise,” with the Starship 24 prototype stacked on top of the Super Heavy 7 booster prototype, in its latest crucial test.
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While SpaceX had hoped to conduct its first orbital Starship launch in early summer 2021, delays in the process and regulatory approvals have pushed back that timeline. Speaking to reporters at the conference, Shotwell on Wednesday said there were “no major issues” that caused the delay.
“There are a lot of little things that need to be done, especially because we’re not focused on the orbital ship – we’re focused on the production system that will build the ship. We know how to get it into orbit,” said Shotwell.
While the company has accelerated its Falcon rocket series to launch every four days, Shotwell noted that existing rockets cannot be produced at a daily rate.
“Why can’t we build rockets every day? That’s what we focus on Starship, attacking every part of the production process to be able to build lots of these machines,” Shotwell said.
SpaceX has signed agreements to fly crews on Starships, including three flights privately booked by rich people who want to go to space and the moon. But Shotwell reiterated the previous caution given by CEO Elon Musk, stating that Starship would have to be launched on “hundreds of flights before we fly people.”
Asked about SpaceX’s plans to IPO its Starlink business, Shotwell said Wednesday there was “no update.” Last year, CNBC reported that CEO Elon Musk told employees that the company would not take Starlink public until 2025 or later.