SpaceX fuels up Starship rocket ahead of critical next launch

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Louise Thomas

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SpaceX has performed a “wet dress rehearsal” of its Starship rocket ahead of the next major test flight of the Mars-bound spacecraft.

The rocket and its booster were filled with liquid oxygen and liquid methane – the fuel that will lift it into orbit – at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

The next Starship launch attempt is currently scheduled for next Wednesday, though the date may be pushed back if approval is not granted by regulators in time.

“Starship and Super Heavy loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant in a rehearsal ahead of Flight 4,” SpaceX wrote in a post to X on Wednesday evening. “Launch is targeted as early as 5 June, pending regulatory approval.”

The flight test comes less than three months after the last Starship launch, which saw the rocket reach orbit before breaking up and disintegrating upon reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere.

Despite not surviving the full test flight, SpaceX said the mission achieved all of its goals at this stage of Starship’s development. The 120-metre rocket was able to reach orbit and demonstrate propellant transfer, as well as open and close its payload door while in space for the first time.

For the fourth flight, SpaceX is aiming to demonstrate the ability to return the Starship rocket and its Super Heavy booster back to Earth in order to be reused, much like its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX has made several software and hardware upgrades in an effort to improve reliability, with any major setbacks potentially proving critical for the rocket’s development schedule.

Having secured a multi-billion dollar contract with Nasa, SpaceX is expected to provide a Starship rocket by September 2026 for the US space agency’s Artemis mission.

“The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon,” SpaceX said.

“We’re continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

The next launch window will open at 7am local time (1pm BST) on Wednesday, 5 June.