CNET News reports that SpaceX is aiming to conduct a test flight of its Starship SN15 prototype as early as Tuesday. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “said SN15 ‘has hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software and engine,’ including, hopefully, upgrades to cover some of the problems that have prevented SpaceX from sticking the landing so far without a rapid unscheduled disassembly.” SN15 “has undergone some initial testing, and Musk initially tweeted that the aim was to launch last month, but that target continued to slip.” On Thursday, the FAA “said it had approved a launch license covering SN15, SN16 and SN17.” SN15 “could launch anytime (or not at all) within the approved windows once all the required closures and permissions are in place.”
Full Story (CNET News)
Tag: Test Flight
NASA, Boeing Push Starliner Test Flight to Early April
Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company said Wednesday that the second uncrewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight test will be pushed from March 25 to no earlier than April 2. The test was delayed in order “to replace hardware damaged during processing of the spacecraft.” The announcement “comes after Boeing recently replaced avionics units on the vehicle that were damaged by a power surge that NASA said was caused by ‘a ground support equipment configuration issue during final checkouts’ of the spacecraft.” Boeing also is “working to complete testing of software on the spacecraft, addressing one of the key issues with the first OFT mission in December 2019.” NASA “said that teams have completed about 95% of the recommendations identified by an independent review of that mission nearly a year ago, which focused primarily on software.”
Full Story (Space News)