--- title: "Watch SpaceX launch Starship on its fourth test spaceflight" description: "SpaceX is set to launch its Starship rocket on its fourth test spaceflight. The rocket aims to demonstrate the ability to return and reuse the Starship and Super Heavy booster. The company has made so" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/205730678.md" published_at: "2024-06-06T12:15:33.000Z" --- # Watch SpaceX launch Starship on its fourth test spaceflight > SpaceX is set to launch its Starship rocket on its fourth test spaceflight. The rocket aims to demonstrate the ability to return and reuse the Starship and Super Heavy booster. The company has made software and hardware changes to increase reliability. If successful, the fully reusable rocket could be used for cargo and human missions to the moon and Mars. The launch is part of NASA's Artemis moon program. SpaceX is set to attempt a fourth test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, as the company looks to push development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones. Elon Musk's company has a two hour window, from 8 a.m. ET to 10 a.m. ET, in which to launch Starship from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. If SpaceX is unable to launch within that window for weather or technical reasons, the company will postpone the attempt to a later date. Assuming the launch goes according to plan, Starship would reach space and then travel halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, lifts off on its third launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. March 14, 2024. Cheney Orr | Reuters SpaceX has flown the full Starship rocket system on three spaceflight tests so far, with launches in April 2023, November and March. Each of the test flights have achieved more milestones than the last, but each result destroyed the rocket before the flight's end. The company's rocket flew the furthest in its third test flight, allowing SpaceX to test new capabilities including opening and closing the payload door once in space – which would be how the rocket deploys payloads such as a satellites on future missions – and transferring fuel during the flight in a NASA demonstration. *Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter**.* The Starship system is designed to be fully reusable and aims to become a new method of flying cargo and people beyond Earth. The rocket is also critical to NASA's plan to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA's Artemis moon program. SpaceX heavily emphasizes an approach of building "on what we've learned from previous flights" in its approach to develop Starship. The company says its strategy focuses on "recursive improvement" to the rocket, where even test flights with fiery outcomes represent progress toward its goal of a fully reusable rocket that can deliver people to the moon and Mars. Musk last year said he expected the company to spend about $2 billion on Starship development in 2023. ## Goals for fourth flight There will be no people on board this attempt to reach space with Starship. The company's leadership has previously emphasized that SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew. SpaceX will be looking to surpass the third test flight's milestones. The company wrote in an update on its website that the fourth flight "turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy." "The primary objectives will be executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and achieving a controlled entry of Starship," SpaceX wrote. The company says it's completed a number of software and hardware changes to Starship, aimed at increasing the rocket's reliability. ## The rocket Starship is both the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. Fully stacked on the Super Heavy booster, Starship stands 397 feet tall and is about 30 feet in diameter. The Super Heavy booster, which stands 232 feet tall, is what begins the rocket's journey to space. At its base are 33 Raptor engines, which together produce 16.7 million pounds of thrust – about double the 8.8 million pounds of thrust of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which launched for the first time in 2022. Starship itself, at 165 feet tall, has six Raptor engines – three for use while in the Earth's atmosphere and three for operating in the vacuum of space. The rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The full system requires more than 10 million pounds of propellant for launch. ### Related Stocks - [RKT.US - Rocket](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/RKT.US.md) - [TSLA.US - Tesla](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLA.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | 官方 Slate 卡车的定价将在六月底公布 | Slate Auto 将于六月底公布其经济型电动皮卡 “Blank Slate” 的定价。首席执行官 Chris Barman 表示，基础型号的起售价将在 2 万美元中段。与其他电动汽车初创公司不同，Slate 的皮卡将不提供选项，允许买家 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276389542.md) | | 板岩的定价将在六月公布，“空白板岩” 卡车的价格仍预计在两万美元中段范围内 | Slate Auto，一家电动车初创公司，将在六月公布其 “Blank Slate” 电动皮卡的定价。该车型预计将成为最实惠的电动车之一，初始目标定价低于 20,000 美元，尽管最近的联邦激励措施变化可能会影响这一点。这款卡车具有可定制的 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276367534.md) | | 分析 - 美国汽车制造商被卷入特朗普与加州电动汽车之战的交火中 | 特朗普政府与加利福尼亚州之间关于汽车污染法规的法律斗争可能对汽车制造商产生重大财务影响。加利福尼亚州正在挑战联邦政府试图撤销其设定更严格排放标准的权力。如果加利福尼亚州胜诉，汽车制造商可能需要应对相互冲突的联邦和州法规，这将影响他们的电动车 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276323878.md) | | 特斯拉的 “最实惠” Cybertruck 已经上市。然而，马斯克暗示它的价格不会长期保持低廉 | 特斯拉推出了其最实惠的 Cybertruck 车型，售价为 59,990 美元，显著低于其他版本。然而，首席执行官埃隆·马斯克暗示这个价格可能不会维持太久，表示仅在接下来的 10 天内有效。公司还将其高端 Cyberbeast 车型的价格降 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276451319.md) | | L & S Advisors Inc 在特斯拉公司持有价值 46.4 万美元的头寸 | L & S Advisors Inc 在第三季度将其在特斯拉公司（NASDAQ:TSLA）的持股减少了 93%，目前持有 1,043 股，价值 464,000 美元。其他机构投资者，如 NewEdge Wealth LLC 和 Signet | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276442380.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.