SpaceX will 'hopefully' conduct first Starship orbital launch in early 2022: Elon Musk

SpaceX CEO and billionaire Elon Musk revealed that his company will "hopefully" conduct its first orbital test flight of Starship in January or February 2022. Musk made the revelation during a virtual meeting of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Space Studies Board on Thursday, November 18. He further stated that SpaceX will look to conduct a bunch of other Starship tests and eventually progress towards the launch of commercial payloads.

We need 1000 starships to make life multi-planetary: Musk

Apart from revealing plans for Starship's first orbital launch, Musk also reflected on the fate of life on Earth and beyond. According to a report by CNBC, he stated that at least 1000 Starships are required to make life multi-planetary. "The overarching goal of SpaceX has been to advance space technology such that humanity can become a multi-planet species and, ultimately, a spacefaring civilization", he was quoted saying.

Besides, SpaceX also wants to conduct a dozen Starship tests next year and is aiming to progress towards launching commercial payloads by 2023. Starship was hoping for the said test flight by the end of this year, but the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently announced that its environmental assessment of the launch will continue for the entirety of 2021. FAA's estimate that the assessment will end by December 2021, diminishing SpaceX's hope for a flight this year.

The Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), started by the FAA earlier this year, evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the launch activities conducted at the Starbase facility located in Boca Chica of Cameron County, Texas. SpaceX aims to conduct multiple Starship programs over the next several years and in order to execute the programs, it requires a permit or vehicle operator licenses issued from the aviation agency. Meanwhile, the Starship isn't inactive as SpaceX recently performed the first six engines static test-fire of the mammoth rocket as part of launch preparations.

Starship's preparations for the first orbital launch

The Starship SN20 is ready to reach heights where no other Starship rocket has ever reached. And as part of the preparations, SpaceX conducted the first six engines test fire and the second static test overall of the SN20. The 165-foot-tall Starship consists of two components - the Super Heavy booster powered by 29 raptors engines, and the Starship mounted over it, which will be loaded with crew and cargo.

Image: Twitter/@SpaceX/AP