Max Q - SpaceX skips the explosion in latest Starship test

This week SpaceX moved the needle in a big way for its Starship development program, and broke a re-use record. 2021 was all set to be a banner year for the launch industry, but in typical style, SpaceX is racking up most of the hits.

Launch; land; don't explode

Starship did something it’s never done before during SpaceX’s development program: It didn’t explode during or after a high-altitude flight. This was the fifth high-flying launch for Starship, and the first where it landed as intended upright and remained intact. The closest it came before now was two test launches ago, when Starship SN10 landed mostly fine, but with a bit of a lean because it came in just a tad too hard, which led to an explosion that destroyed the prototype entirely just about eight minutes post-touchdown.

SN11, the last one to fly before this, fared even worse: It exploded before it even touched the pad during its descent. The SN15 prototype that landed as intended actually has a different design with significant improvements compared to the last generation (SN11 and earlier). Something in those changes likely accounted for its success, and SpaceX likely hopes that means the big explody days of Starship testing are mostly behind it.

Now SpaceX is faced with a novel situation for tis Starship program — what to do with a prototype after its launch and landing. Elon Musk says the company is considering flying it again, which would be a first for testing so far, and a key indicator of what these prototypes can handle and how that squares with SpaceX’s goal of making the Starship launch system fully reusable.

A 10x rocket

SpaceX has a new record for re-use of a Falcon 9 booster, and this is the first time time one has crossed over into double digits. The booster used on its latest Starlink mission has now flown and landed a total of 10 times, which should translate to big aggregate cost savings for SpaceX — particularly important for the flights where SpaceX is launching its own satellites to build out the Starlink constellation.

Ten might be a record so far, but it’s not the upper limit; Elon has said that there’s technically no reason a Falcon 9 booster couldn’t fly for 100 or more missions, provided its serviced and maintained on the regular. The company will have plenty more Starlink missions to prove that’s the case, given how massive it’s aiming to make the constellation once it achieves global coverage.

Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin want in on the action

SpaceX might be stealing all the glory this spring, but Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin are set to shine this summer, provided everything goes well. Virgin Galactic is looking to complete it second orbital launch, with a flight for paying customers delivering small satellites in June, on behalf of the U.S. DoD, among others. That’s on the heels of its first successful demonstration satellite in January, which more than made up for its first botched attempt last May.

Blue Origin, meanwhile, surprised everyone with the announcement that it would be auctioning off one seat on its first-ever human spaceflight to the highest bidder. Speculation about pricing for seats aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket has run rampant for years, and the company only ever indicated it would extend into the ‘hundreds of thousands’ of dollars range for a jaunt to the edge of space that includes a few minutes of weightlessness.

Maybe more surprising than awarding a ticket to an auction winner is that the flight, which is currently scheduled for July 20, will be Blue Origin’s first ever human spaceflight attempt. Yep — that ticket is for a trip on the company’s first try ever flying people to space. Other companies developing human spaceflight programs have relied on professional test personnel to launch on those firsts, but Blue Origin is confident in the system it developed, which has admittedly performed pretty perfectly in its uncrewed missions thus far.

First ISS mission featuring private astronauts set for January

The International Space Station is aging in-space infrastructure, and NASA intends to retire it within the next decade. But the station will still play host to flights made up entirely of private individuals who paid for the privilege, starting with a mission organized and prepared by Axiom Space. The commercial station station startup detailed its first all-private mission on Monday with NASA, explaining that it’s going to be aiming for January 2022 as the timeframe.

This will use SpaceX’s proven Crew Dragon spacecraft to ferry its passengers, and NASA will also be sending up supplies for its astronauts on the mission (and paying for the service). Axiom and its customers will likely be paying NASA much more, as it recently announced sharp increases in prices for private astronauts paying visits to the orbiting lab.

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