--- title: "NASA Is Mega Hyped About SpaceX’s Imminent Starship Test Flight" description: "Lunar Lodestar SpaceX is readying up for the next test flight of its Starship rocket — and NASA is officially pretty hyped about it, SpaceNews reports. The rocket's last test flight — the fourth — was in June, which saw both Starship's upper and lower stages survive re-entry. Now, after a long wait, the fifth […]" date: "2024-10-11" modified: "2024-10-11" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-hyped-spacex-starship-test" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # NASA Is Mega Hyped About SpaceX’s Imminent Starship Test Flight ![NASA is excited about SpaceX's fifth flight test of Starship, which could see the rocket pull off a fascinating landing procedure.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Lunar Lodestar SpaceX is readying up for the next test flight of its Starship rocket — and NASA is officially pretty hyped about it, [*SpaceNews* reports](). The rocket's last test flight — [the fourth]() — was in June, which saw the massive spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster survive re-entry largely intact and eventually splash down in the ocean. Now, after a long wait, the fifth flight could launch as soon as October 13, [according to SpaceX](), if it gets the go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration. NASA, for its part, is "really looking forward" to the Starship flight, as Lori Glaze, the agency's acting deputy associate administrator at its Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate**,** told reporters during a Wednesday meeting, as quoted by *SpaceNews*. The world's most powerful rocket is planned to play a key role in NASA's lunar ambitions, with a specialized variant of it, dubbed the [Human Landing System](), serving as a lander that will carry astronauts down to the Moon's surface during the [third mission]() of space agency's [Artemis program](). "There's no doubt that the Human Landing System is the critical path for Artemis 3," Glaze said at the meeting. ## Explosive and Steady Starship has had a rocky development. Its first two orbital flight tests [ended in]() [explosions](). But the latest one in June marked a significant improvement, bringing it one small step closer to being mission-ready. In addition to both stages making it to space and back, the spacecraft's Super Heavy booster successfully slowed itself to a static hover by firing three of its Raptor engines, allowing it to [softly splash down in the Gulf of Mexico](). Starship, however, had it a bit rougher, [looking worse for wear]() before managing a soft splashdown in the ocean. ## Armed and Ready With its fifth integrated test flight, SpaceX will be attempting an altogether more ambitious landing. While the upper stage is still set to land in the Gulf, the Super Heavy booster will attempt a return on solid ground at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. But instead of lowering itself to the surface, a launch tower — nicknamed "[Mechazilla]()" — will try to catch the booster mid-air with a pair of huge, "chopstick" arms ([as seen in this animation]()). SpaceX's plans of Starship eventually being a reusable launch vehicle hinge on successfully executing this landing. It's a difficult and complex maneuver to perform, and there's a chance that SpaceX could call it off if the conditions aren't right. But Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president for build and flight reliability, thinks the big rocket can do it. "We landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean, so we think we have a reasonable chance to go back to the tower," Gerstenmaier said at a separate Wednesday meeting, per *SpaceNews*. **More on SpaceX:** *[The FAA Grounds SpaceX's Rockets for a Third Time After Mysterious Anomaly]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()