SpaceX Starship completes Wet Dress Rehearsal, gets ready for launch

"SpaceX is set to launch the third version of its Starship rocket after completing a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) - a full fueling test - yesterday. It was second time lucky for Elon Musk's rocketeers, after a first attempt over the weekend was aborted. The issue cropped up before propellant was loaded. However, on Monday, the company tried again and confirmed that during the countdown (designed to check out as many activities as possible short of launching the behemoth) 5,000 metric tons (more than 11 million pounds) of propellant were loaded into the vehicles stacked on the company's new Pad 2 at its Starbase facility in Texas."

"A launch of the latest rocket revision could therefore occur in the coming days or weeks, pending the results of the WDR and approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Although SpaceX has yet to confirm a target date, it is likely sometime toward the end of May. SpaceX had already performed a full-duration and full-thrust static fire of the 33 engines of the Super Heavy Booster earlier in May, and showed off imagery of the complete Starship V3 stack on May 9."

"NASA's Artemis II also suffered from WDR problems, although the US space agency was forced to roll the rocket stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. Whatever issue bedeviled SpaceX's latest Starship and its Super Heavy Booster was dealt with at the pad, and the test was successfully repeated. Time is running out for the company. NASA has stated that it aims to launch the Artemis III mission at the end of 2027, intended to test hardware for a planned lunar landing the following year."

"SpaceX is contracted to produce a lunar lander for the US space agency, and getting the third version of Starship into space is an essential part of those plans. This next mission, Flight 12, will not be troubling orbit as SpaceX tests the changes made to the new version of the launcher. Future launches must, however, reach orbit if"

SpaceX completed a wet dress rehearsal for the third version of its Starship rocket, performing a full fueling test at Pad 2 in Starbase, Texas. An earlier attempt was aborted due to an issue that appeared before propellant loading. On the successful retry, the countdown proceeded through extensive checks and loaded 5,000 metric tons of propellant into the stacked vehicles. Artemis II also experienced wet dress rehearsal problems, but repairs were handled by rolling the rocket stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. SpaceX has not set a confirmed launch date, but a launch is likely in late May, depending on wet dress rehearsal results and Federal Aviation Administration approval. Flight 12 will focus on testing changes rather than reaching orbit, while later missions must reach orbit to support lunar plans.

Read at theregister