Starship returned to the launch pad for the first time in three months ahead of a high-stakes test flight scheduled for 6:30 pm local time in Texas (23:30 UTC) on Sunday. The upcoming test follows Flight 9 in May and includes review and analysis of prior failures and program risks. Firefly Aerospace entered a memorandum of understanding with Hokkaido Spaceport to study the feasibility of launching Alpha from Taiki Town, aiming to serve the Asian satellite market and add resiliency for US allies. The spaceport advertises launch azimuths from 42° to 98°, including Sun-synchronous orbits.
Welcome to Edition 8.07 of the Rocket Report! It's that time again: another test flight of SpaceX's massive Starship vehicle. In this week's report, we have a review of what went wrong on Flight 9 in May and a look at the stakes for the upcoming mission, which are rather high. The flight test is presently scheduled for 6:30 pm local time in Texas (23:30 UTC) on Sunday, and Ars will be on hand to provide in-depth coverage.
On Monday, Space Cotan Co., Ltd., operator of the Hokkaido Spaceport, announced it entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Texas-based launch company to conduct a feasibility study examining the practicality of launching Firefly's Alpha rocket from its launch site, Spaceflight Now reports. Located in Taiki Town on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido, the spaceport bills itself as
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