SpaceX hopes to launch Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, again next week after a test in April ended with a spectacular explosion.

“Starship is preparing for launch as early as November 17, pending final regulatory approval,” SpaceX said in a statement Friday evening. said.

SpaceX envisions Starship as a fully reusable, next-generation spacecraft that will eventually carry both crew and cargo to Mars. The project is being watched closely by NASA, which has signed a contract for a version of Starship that will serve as a lunar lander for the Artemis program, with the aim of returning astronauts to the moon by the middle of this decade.

On April 20, SpaceX blasted off an unmanned rocket four minutes after liftoff from the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Starship suffered multiple engine failures and the first stage launch vehicle was unable to separate from the spacecraft above it.

The missile exploded into a fireball and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, sending a cloud of dust over the city several miles (kilometers) away. The FAA must issue a launch license for retesting. The regulator completed its safety review of Starship in October, but the project still needs approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service before it can be licensed.

According to promotional materials published by SpaceX, the new Starship is now ready for the launch pad. The 394-foot-long (120 meters) Starship produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 meganewtons) of thrust, more than twice the power of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the moon.

Starship is designed to be completely reusable; both stages were designed to return to Earth, significantly reducing costs. Elon Musk said that Starship’s fission system was redesigned after the first test in Boca Chica, adding that testing this new system would be “the riskiest part of the flight” at a conference held in early October.

“I don’t want to set my expectations too high,” SpaceX CEO said.

The flight plan will be similar to the April plan. After separation, Starship should continue to an altitude of “one step below orbit,” making a close circle of the Earth before diving into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, according to Musk. Source