Elon Musk guarantees excitement for Starship's debut orbital flight on April 17

SpaceX will attempt the debut orbital launch of its Starship rocket on April 17 and there will be guaranteed excitement for the mega event, says company CEO Elon Musk. In a tweet, Musk wrote, "success maybe, excitement guaranteed," reiterating his previous belief that the mission has a 50% chance of success. "With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances the development of Starship," read a SpaceX statement.

Success maybe, excitement guaranteed! https://t.co/LoDrBmHkQa

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2023

As for the launch, it will be attempted within a 150-minute launch window which opens at 5:30 pm IST from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The confirmation came shortly after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved a launch license for Starship, something that was the biggest hurdle until now. Valid for five years, the license was issued after FAA was assured that SpaceX met all requirements regarding safety and the environment. "We carefully analysed the public safety risks during every stage of the mission and required SpaceX to mitigate those risks," the FAA said. 

For the unversed, the mission is about putting the 394-feet-tall Starship rocket to an "integrated flight test." This rocket comprises two components-- the first stage booster called Super Heavy and the second stage called the Ship or Starship. For the forthcoming orbital flight, SpaceX is using the Booster 7 and the Ship 24 prototypes. 

There's a change in the plan

(Starship flight profile; Image: SpaceX)

Unlike SpaceX's traditional way of recovering rocket boosters after each mission, the company this time has decided to spend the Super Heavy. Meaning, SpaceX will not recover the booster, although it will be fully reusable in future missions. According to the mission timeline, the booster will separate from the upper stage 2 mins and 52 seconds after launch. Then the Ship 24 or Starship will ignite its engines five seconds later and attain an altitude of 235 km, crossing the internationally recognised boundary of space called the Karman line 100 km above. It will then make its atmospheric re-entry one hour and 17 minutes later and splash down 225 km from coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu 90 minutes after launch. 

When the rocket lifts off, it will become the most powerful launch vehicle to ever reach orbit. Standing 226-feet-tall, the booster is equipped with 33 Raptor 2 engines which produce about 230 tons of thrust each, whereas the Ship has six such engines.