After a series of reschedules, SpaceX is planning for its Starship SN8 prototype to have its first High-Altitude Flight Test today. Note: the test flight might be subject to another schedule change.
The suborbital flight test is scheduled to launch from Texas on Tuesday morning local time. Should everything go the plan, the high altitude test will take the Starship prototype up to around 40’000 feet or 12.5 kilometers (8 miles). “The schedule is dynamic and likely to change, as is the case with all development testing,” SpaceX says in a statement.
“This suborbital flight is designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform, and the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle, including its body flaps, to how the vehicle manages propellant transition. SN8 will also attempt to perform a landing flip maneuver, which would be a first for a vehicle of this size.”