Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's Starship orbital flight test launch likely in November

SpaceX has been developing a Starship in southeastern Texas, the United States and progress has been made on launching tower construction and installation of the vacuum-rated Raptor engines. The vacuum-rated Raptor engines would help the vehicle in reaching space, reported Tech Crunch. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated that the starship could be ready for its first orbital flight attempt next month. 

Taking to Twitter, Elon Musk shared a picture of SpaceX's Starship rocket, which is under development in Texas. The Space Padre Isle on Twitter shared four pictures of the Starbase and mentioned that the development of the Starbase launch tower was nearly complete. Replying to the post, Elon Musk said "If all goes well, Starship will be ready for its first orbital launch attempt next month, pending regulatory approval."

For making the first orbital flight attempt, SpaceX will need approvals from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), reported Tech Crunch. SpaceX has to take the required approvals as it has done for all of its previous Starship test flights from its development location outside of Brownsville, Texas. For the FAA approval, SpaceX must show that it has taken all necessary safety precautions to ensure that there is minimum risk involved in case of anything going wrong during the launch attempts.

SpaceX's Starship completes first vacuum Raptor static fire test

Earlier on 22 October, SpaceX's Starship SN20 was brought to life in a vacuum engine static fire test that was conducted at SpaceX's Starbase facility, in Boca Chica near South Texas, reported Space.com. The 165-foot-tall Starship, SN20 is undergoing tests with a raptor vacuum engine ahead of its upcoming test flight later this year. According to Space.com, the SN20 is currently outfitted with two engines where one is the vacuum version, while the other is a standard "sea-level" raptor, however, only the former was fired in this test. The company confirmed the development in a tweet sent out following the test. 

Image: AP/Twitter/@ElonMusk