Starship’s Orbital Launch Debut: SpaceX Targets to Make It Happen in Summer 2021

A report by NASA Spaceflight said SpaceX wants to begin its orbital launch attempts of Starship as early as July 1, 2021, a few months from now.

In no uncertain terms, according to TESLARATI, this is an internal target which means it is far more possible than not that the first orbital Starship launch attempt of SpaceX is not happening in July.

Nonetheless, the existence of that particular target suggests that SpaceX sees a real, feasible path - though narrow - to launching for the first time, Starship into orbit just a few months from now.

The said NASA report specified that specifically, the SN11 would reattempt a Static Fire test today after a scrub yesterday, ahead of a possible flight on the latter part of this week.

Always subject to change because of several considerations including hardware parameters, weather and approval of paperwork, SN11 is going to make the final test of this Starship iteration before the program moves ahead into the next testing stage.

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What's Ahead of the SN11 Flight?

After the SN11 flight, SpaceX announced it is moving on to SN15, 16 and 17, together with testing with BN1 and BN2 Super Heavy prototypes, prior to shooting for an orbital launch with SN20 and BN3.

In usual SpaceX-style, the said orbital launch has an astounding, and unlikely, start-of-July target. At the very least, this aim depicts SpaceX's Starship drive to push the spacecraft into operation.

This is going to be the fourth high-altitude test flight of the Starship prototype, and as initiatives continue focusing on the flight profile's refining and landing element, SN11 has already attained numerous milestones which include proving long-duration Raptor performance, as well as controllability during ascent, and what's described as the "stable 'bellyflop' return" under its aero surfaces' control, a huge objective for a test flight.

SpaceX Boca Chica Pumps Out Starships

Meanwhile, SpaceX Boca Chica has reportedly pumped out Starships with such high cadence as to enable for rapid turnarounds after every takeoff, implementing tweaks to the vehicle in advance, prior to the next flight.

Specifically, SN8 achieved a flip maneuver before it lost thrust because of the Methane CH4 Head Tank losing pressure during the landing burn.

SN9 on the other hand, was not able to complete the flip because of engine relight problems while SN10 reached completion of all the maneuvers before it landed hard, eventually leading to the vehicle's explosion several minutes from touchdown. These issues' mitigation path focuses on those last few seconds of the flight.

A related report is shown on Cosmic Perspective's YouTube video below.

All 3 Engines Successfully Relit

After the SN8 flight, SpaceX chose to add helium pressurization to CH4 Header Tank of SN9. After the engine relight issue of SN9, SpaceX chose to light all three engines during the flip and burn of SN10, before deselecting the engine with the least lever arm in the occurrence all three engines successfully relit.

Indeed, it was a successful relighting for all three engines during the flip of SN10 before the system deselected to land just a single engine. While the landing velocity appeared visually acceptable, Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Designer of SpaceX, soon verified remained too high.

In addition, still according to this NASA report, a few of the landing legs did not lock into place, though the CEO noted the high velocity landing would have seen them compressed regardless.

Notably too, Musk noted the hard landing was because of the Raptor that conducted the land burning, ingesting helium that pressurized the CH4 Header Tank.