Starship IFT 5 is a GO! - October 13th

After some public back-and-forth between the FAA and SpaceX regarding the launch schedule, SpaceX has officially secured the green light to launch on October 13th instead of late November November (FAA Launch License).

Launch Profile

Source: SpaceX

What's different this time?

SpaceX is aiming to catch the Super Heavy Booster using their launch tower, a bold move made possible by the confidence gained from IFT 4, which landed within half a centimeter of its target, according to Bill Gerstenmaier.

Landing and catch animation by Ryan Hansen:

My technical deep dive on "How SpaceX Will Catch Super Heavy" is in the final stages of completion! It's currently sitting at 31 minutes long and I plan to release it days before #Starship Flight 5. This has been months in the making so I hope you find it informative. Head over… pic.twitter.com/nmMQR0iHZG
— Ryan Hansen Space (@RyanHansenSpace) October 9, 2024

Fun fact

It costs SpaceX around $4 million per day to operate Starbase. We learned this from a lawsuit that tried to stop SpaceX from launching (Source).

Starship data :


Full Stack
Height:	120m
Diameter:	9m
Payload capacity (fully reusable):	100 – 150t

Starship Spacecraft
Height:	50m
Diameter:	9m

Super Heavy Booster Rocket
Height:	69m
Diameter:	9m