This makes it uniquely suited to monitor high altitude rocket tests and spacecraft reentries, with the WB-57 providing coverage throughout the event until the ship lands.Īccording to Musk, Starship's highly awaited orbital test flight will throttle the rocket's engines to up to 90%. It has also been regularly used in the Afghanistan war, and right now is the only aircraft apart from the U2 with a service ceiling higher than 50,000 feet, with NASA regularly flying the place at 60,000 feet. The WB-57 is a historic aircraft that was the first jet engine powered bomber in the air force's fleet to drop bombs in war. Its calendar marks March 11 as 'SpaceX Starship Launch (placeholder),' providing a tentative launch date for the rocket and indicating the assignment's arbitrary nature.Ī screen grab of NASA's calendar for the WB-57 aircraft. NASA also uses the aircraft to gain visual information about test launches, and now, the space agency has reserved a time slot for aircraft to cover the Starship orbital flight test. However, sometimes even before the communication link is established, the WB-57 provides important visual confirmation of reentry to the teams. During the mission, this period is often one of the more stressful ones, as ground control teams cannot contact the astronauts to check up on their well-being. During atmospheric reentry, a spaceship encounters high temperatures, which leads to a communications blackout for a short duration. The aircraft regularly tracks high-flying objects and is the first to get visuals of crewed spacecraft returning from the ISS. NASA's WB-57 is a vital agency asset that has made several appearances on its space live streams. SpaceX's Starship Rocket Can Take To The Skies On March 11 Shows NASA Calendar Shotwell's timeline, and now we have a tentative date courtesy of NASA's WB-57 plane. Gwynne Shotwell announced that her firm would not only conduct the hot fire test but also make an orbital flight attempt next month. The test was almost a complete success since it met the time duration and saw 31 engines fully light up. After this, earlier this week, SpaceX finally attempted to fire up all 33 engines on the 230 feet tall Super Heavy booster. The company has picked up the pace on conducting full scale tests this year, and January saw it fill the vehicle up with propellant as part of a wet dress rehearsal. SpaceX's highly anticipated Starship orbital flight test just got tentative launch data courtesy of a NASA calendar. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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