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SpaceX to launch prototype Mars 'Spacehopper' starship on August 21.
(FAA gives go ahead for up to 650 feet)
Space.com August 17
https://www.space.com/spacex-starhopper-big-test-flight-target-date.html
Big Leap by SpaceX's Starship Prototype Pushed to Next Week
It looks like we'll have to wait a little longer to see Starhopper make its biggest leap yet.
SpaceX had been hoping to launch Starhopper, an early test prototype of the company's Mars-colonizing Starship vehicle, to an altitude of about 650 feet (200 meters) this weekend from its facility in Boca Chica, Texas, near the border city of Brownsville.
SpaceX just needed to secure permission for the flight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), company founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter earlier this week.
On Thursday (Aug. 15), the billionaire entrepreneur tweeted another update: "Good conversation with head of FAA Space. Need a bit more hazard analysis & should be clear to fly soon."
But "soon" apparently means the middle of next week at the earliest. Officials in Cameron County, where Boca Chica lies, announced Friday (Aug. 16) that Boca Chica Beach and part of State Highway 4 will be closed on Aug. 21 from 2 p.m. to midnight local time to accommodate SpaceX activities.
SpaceX had been hoping to launch Starhopper, an early test prototype of the company's Mars-colonizing Starship vehicle, to an altitude of about 650 feet (200 meters) this weekend from its facility in Boca Chica, Texas, near the border city of Brownsville.
SpaceX just needed to secure permission for the flight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), company founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter earlier this week.
On Thursday (Aug. 15), the billionaire entrepreneur tweeted another update: "Good conversation with head of FAA Space. Need a bit more hazard analysis & should be clear to fly soon."
But "soon" apparently means the middle of next week at the earliest. Officials in Cameron County, where Boca Chica lies, announced Friday (Aug. 16) that Boca Chica Beach and part of State Highway 4 will be closed on Aug. 21 from 2 p.m. to midnight local time to accommodate SpaceX activities.
SpaceX Martian Colony (Artist's rendition)
