SpaceX will attempt a high-altitude flight test of its Starship prototype sometime next week. Teslerati reports:
CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX’s first fully-assembled Starship prototype is on track for its 15-kilometer (~50,000 ft) launch debut after completing a second three-engine static fire test on Tuesday.
Starship serial number 8’s (SN8) three Raptor engines ignited for a few seconds around 5:30 pm CST (UTC-6) on Tuesday, November 24th, less than four hours before a record-breaking Falcon 9 rocket launched another batch of Starlink satellites roughly a thousand miles to the east. Perhaps briefly producing upwards of 600 metric tons (6000 kN/~1.3M lbf) of thrust, Starship SN8’s second triple-engine static fire was actually the first with that particular trio of engines.
Cameron County has posted the following schedule for closing Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach to allow SpaceX to conduct the test.
| TEMP. CLOSURE DATE | TIME OF CLOSURE (CST) | CURRENT BEACH STATUS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Date | Nov 30, 2020 | 7:00 am to 6:00 pm | Closure Scheduled |
| Secondary Date | Dec 1, 2020 | 8:00 am to 5:00 pm | Closure Scheduled |
| Secondary Date | Dec 2, 2020 | 8:00 am to 5:00 pm | Closure Scheduled |
Musk has estimated there is a one-in-three chance of Starship landing successfully. There are two more Starships in production.