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March 28, 2021

SpaceX Starship SN11 Could Launch Monday

Will a Fourth High-Altitude Launch Prove The Full Concept?

As early as Monday, March 29, the SpaceX team states that they will attempt a high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 11 (SN11) – their fourth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas. Similar to previous high-altitude flight tests of Starship, SN11 will be powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN11 will perform a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

NASA's Mark Vande Hei, Roscosmos' Pyotr Dubrov, and Soyuz MS-18 Cdr Oleg Novitskiy Are Next Up

The station astronauts have been focusing their research efforts this week on microgravity’s long-term impacts on the human body and other biological processes. NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins examined space-grown protein crystals in a microscope on Friday morning for insights into pharmaceutical production beyond Earth’s gravity. She later peered at microscopic worms wriggling in unique sample slides, set up by NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker, to understand how weightlessness affects genetic expression in muscles.