--- title: "After Explosion, SpaceX Still Hoping to Launch Starship This Year" description: "SpaceX is still planning on an orbital test launch of its Starship spacecraft before the end of the year, despite last week's setback." date: "2020-06-04" modified: "2020-06-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-hoping-launch-starship-this-year" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # After Explosion, SpaceX Still Hoping to Launch Starship This Year ![SpaceX is still planning on an orbital test launch of its Starship spacecraft before the end of the year, despite last week's setback.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Ambitious Goals Despite a [massive explosion]() that obliterated the fourth prototype of its Starship spacecraft, SpaceX is still planning on an orbital test launch of the vehicle before the end of the year. Starship — a different project than SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which [successfully launched]() with two astronauts on board over the weekend — is meant to eventually ferry up to [100 passengers]() as far as the Moon, and even Mars. "I expect first test flights, let's say, to a height of 150 meters, in the coming weeks," Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's VP of Build and Flight Reliability, told German magazine *Der Spiegel* in a [Tuesday interview](). "We're going to be doing that a couple of times." "If everything works, we want to go into Earth orbit at the end of the year," Koenigsmann added. "It might take a little longer." ## Explosive Testing The news comes after Starship's fourth prototype, SN4, exploded last Friday at the company's testing site in Boca Chica, Texas. "Unfortunately what we thought was going to be a minor test of a quick disconnect ended up being a big problem," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [told the press](). It's a setback, but SN4 endured far more trials than its predecessors. It's also the first Starship prototype to endure a cryogenic pressure test, which caused older prototypes to [crumple like tin cans](). A scaled-down Starship prototype, called "Starhopper," has also already [completed]() a test flight to 150 meters last summer. **READ MORE:** [SpaceX’s orbital Starship launch debut could still happen this year]() \[*Teslarati*\] **More on Starship:** *[BREAKING: SPACEX’S STARSHIP PROTOTYPE BLOWS UP IN HUGE FIREBALL]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()