SpaceX Gears Up for Starship Flight 5 with Risky ‘Chopstick’ Rocket Catch Attempt

SpaceX is set to launch Starship Flight 5 on October 13, pending FAA approval. The mission will include the first attempt to capture the 232-foot Super Heavy booster using the company’s innovative tower “chopsticks” arms, a critical milestone in SpaceX’s future landing strategy.

FAA Approvals Pending, SpaceX Signals Early Launch for Starship Flight 5 on October 13

With the weekend approaching, SpaceX is progressing in preparing for the fifth test flight of Starship, to launch on October 13. The flight timeline for Starship Flight 5 was previously delayed by a setback last month when SpaceX disclosed that the FAA's license approval was taking longer than anticipated, resulting in a delay to late November, according to the agency's estimates.

Nevertheless, this week's events resulted in a significant change, as the FAA's airmen notices and NASA's observation aircraft schedule indicated that the flight could occur earlier than previously thought. SpaceX subsequently confirmed that Flight 5 could launch as early as Sunday, subject to final FAA approval.

SpaceX has made substantial progress in its preparation, installing the flight termination system on the Starship Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage spacecraft. Subsequently, the rockets were restacked. These actions have elevated the probability of a launch on October 13.

SpaceX has been conducting final preparations and last-minute tests with less than two days until the prospective launch. These have encompassed installing the flight termination system on both the booster and spacecraft and numerous tests of the tower capture arms.

Although the FAA's sanction is still pending for Flight 5, there are numerous indications that a launch is becoming more likely. The FAA has issued a notice to aircraft regarding the flight, and officials in Boca Chica County have published notices for beach and highway closures.

NASA and SpaceX Brace for High-Stakes Starship Flight 5 and Falcon Heavy Launch

NASA has reserved imaging support for its WB-57 aircraft, scheduled to commence on October 13. This placeholder is particularly important because two of NASA's three WB-57 aircraft are presently undergoing maintenance.

Both NASA and SpaceX anticipate an active day on Sunday. In addition to the Starship test flight, SpaceX plans to launch the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon, an uncommon deployment of the Falcon Heavy, the company's most powerful operational rocket.

As SpaceX prepares for Starship Flight 5, the launch is fraught with significant risks. In this mission, the 232-foot Super Heavy booster will be the first time SpaceX attempts a tower capture using its "chopsticks" tower arms. The mission controllers will make a final decision on the flight. Landing the upper-stage Starship is another critical objective to accomplish a soft splashdown. If this area is thriving, SpaceX can return the rocket to the launch site in future flights, potentially as early as Starship Flight 7.

Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president for build and flight reliability, expressed his confidence in the tower catch's success. At the National Academies Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space earlier this week, Gerstenmaier disclosed that SpaceX has "landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean," which has increased the company's confidence in its ability to execute the tower catch effectively.