A bit of over a month after SpaceX’s massive Starship launch ended in an explosion over a number of Caribbean islands, the corporate is getting ready its subsequent rocket for a take a look at flight.

Based on a notice posted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the eighth take a look at flight of the Starship car may happen as early as February 26 from the Starbase launch web site in South Texas. The launch window extends from 5:30 pm native time (23:30 UTC) to 7:09 pm (01:09 UTC).

Firm sources confirmed that this launch date is believable, nevertheless it’s additionally doable that the launch may slip a day or two to Thursday or Friday of subsequent week.

This is a crucial flight for SpaceX to get the Starship program again on observe.

Over the past mission on January 16, the large rocket’s first stage carried out usually, and some minutes after launching, it was efficiently and spectacularly caught by its launch tower in South Texas. Nevertheless, a couple of minutes into the flight of the Starship higher stage, a fireplace developed within the aft part of the car, resulting in the lack of its engines. The car broke aside, and residents and vacationers within the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico noticed a bathe of particles falling by means of the ambiance.

The FAA deliberates

The impacts of the failure in spaceflight have been tangible right here on Earth. After the breakup of Starship, FAA air site visitors controllers cleared further airspace over the particles zone for greater than an hour, rerouting, diverting, and delaying dozens of business plane. Later, particles was collected on Turks and Caicos, and the FAA opened an anomaly investigation. The federal company has the accountability to guard folks and property on the bottom.

That investigation has not concluded. Nevertheless, it appears clear that the FAA—in issuing its discover this week—and SpaceX imagine {that a} decision is coming quickly. SpaceX has been making last preparations for stacking the Starship higher stage onto its first stage, which may occur within the subsequent few days.