SpaceX receives FAA’s launch clearance for Starship’s third test flight or IFT-3, as additional details about a new landing site also appear in official documents.
After sharing a tentative launch date for Starship through a live stream link on Elon Musk’s X earlier this month, SpaceX is sticking with a Thursday launch date for the world’s largest rocket. SpaceX’s third Starship test flight, dubbed IFT-3, is slated to launch from Boca Chica, Texas early morning local time tomorrow, according to the firm’s latest update posted just moments back. The update came just as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the go ahead for changes to Starship’s landing profile, and then proceeded to authorize Starship IFT-3 (or the OFT-3 as the FAA dubs it in its official statement) launch.SpaceX Plans To Conduct Up To Five Indian Ocean Starship Landings Shares FAA Analysis
A key change for the third Starship flight, apart from upgrades to both rockets, involves the landing site. SpaceX shared earlier that this time around, it will try to land Starship in the Indian Ocean. According to the firm, this will allow it to “attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns,” as part of a broader array of testing objectives that will also see SpaceX try to re-ingite a Raptor engine in space.
This change also meant that the FAA had to check whether the updates would affect the environment. The agency evaluates SpaceX’s test operations under environmental law in the U.
