SpaceX announced on Friday that the next test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket, Starship, is planned for June 5. The launch window at the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, opens at 7:00 a.m. local time (12:00 GMT), pending regulatory approval.

This will be the fourth test of the advanced megarocket, which is vital to NASA’s plans to land astronauts on the moon within the next decade and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s hopes of eventually colonizing Mars.

Three previous attempts had resulted in the destruction of the Starship; it was all part of what the company saw as an acceptable price to pay for its fast-paced, trial-and-error approach.

“The fourth test flight shifts our focus from reaching orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy,” SpaceX said in a statement. said.

Super Heavy is a booster, while Starship refers to both the top tier and both tiers together. The flight path will be similar to the third test conducted in March; During this test, Starship will travel halfway around the world before finally disappearing when it re-enters the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

This time, SpaceX hopes to provide a soft entry for the booster stage in the Gulf of Mexico and a “controlled entry” for the upper stage. Designed to be completely reusable over time, Starship is 397 feet (121 meters) tall with both stages; that is, it is 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Its super-heavy booster produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 meganewtons) of thrust; that’s nearly twice as powerful as NASA’s Space Launch System, the world’s second most powerful rocket; but the latter is already certified and Starship is still a prototype.

SpaceX’s strategy of testing in the real world rather than in the laboratory has paid off in the past. Falcon 9 rockets have become the workhorse for NASA and the commercial sector, the Dragon capsule is sending astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, and the Starlink network of Internet satellites now spans dozens of countries.

But the clock is ticking for SpaceX to be ready for when NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon in 2026, using a modified Starship as a lander.