SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk on Tuesday said the Starship prototype will attempt to fly to an altitude of 50,000 feet, or 15 kilometers, as part of the first high-altitude test flight for the spacecraft. The company has permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a Starship launch from its Texas facility on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, according to the FAA's website.
This will take it above nearly 90 percent of Earth's atmosphere. Ars Technica reports this will allow SpaceX to perform several new tests. These are tests of the Starship's body flaps, switching from propellant from the main fuel tanks to those used for landing burns, and the spaceship's ability to reorient itself for returning to the launch site.
Afterwards the Starship will make a controlled descent back to the landing pad at the Boca Chica facility.
Musk tweeted on Wednesday, November 25 that a "lot of things need to go right" and added that the Starship had "maybe [a] 1/3[a] chance" of landing intact.
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