Early in the following year, SpaceX intends to launch a Starship spacecraft into orbit for the first time. The company plans to launch its first Starship spacecraft in early March, followed by as many as a dozen test flights in 2022.
The launch pad and tower at the business’s South Texas launch site were scheduled to be finished by the end of 2021, but the Starship vehicle and its Super Heavy booster are now both finished. If everything goes as planned, the first flight will put Starship in orbit for a short while before it reenters the atmosphere and lands in the Pacific Ocean.
Two components make up a starship, and both of them are intended to be completely and quickly reusable. Operational missions could start in 2023 if SpaceX can recover and reuse Starship during this year’s test flights. Starship will eventually be used by the company for crewed missions to Mars.
One of the most thrilling and captivating events for space fans in recent years has been watching Starship and its Super Heavy booster undergo numerous, occasionally spectacular, and explosive tests. However, the first orbital launch test of what might be a ground-breaking, fully reusable space launch system is almost here.
One of the major missions to watch will be the test launch from SpaceX’s launch facility in South Texas, which is anticipated to happen in the coming months.
FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH OF USSF-67
When Starship takes off, it will be the most potent rocket ever. The Falcon Heavy from SpaceX, which combines three Falcon 9 cores, will have the next-highest number. Its first launch of 2023 is scheduled for January 10 from LC-39A at the Florida-based Kennedy Space Center.
One of the first missions in 2023 will see the launch of the USSF-67 satellite, a classified mission for U.S. national security, into geostationary orbit 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the Earth.
1ST LAUNCH OF ULA’S VULCAN CENTAUR CARRYING COMMERCIAL LUNAR LANDER
The methane-fueled Vulcan Centaur, a new launch vehicle from United Launch Alliance, is getting ready to launch for the first time with the commercial Peregrine Mission One spacecraft.
The two-stage Vulcan, which replaces the venerable Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, is 270 feet (82 m) tall and powered by seven BE-4 engines created by Blue Origin. Currently, the first launch is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41 in the first quarter of 2023.
The Peregrine Mission One payload, created by the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, aims to be the first American lunar lander since the Apollo program. Additionally, Peregrine will transport the Yaoki moon rover from the Japanese firm Dymon. As part of NASA’s launch services program, Vulcan will assist upcoming space exploration missions.
SPACEX CREW 6 MISSION
SpaceX is preparing to launch Crew 6, its upcoming crew mission, in February with NASA astronauts Warren Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, who will be making their fourth space flight. In addition to Hoburg, Sultan Al Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos will also be traveling to space for the first time.
In the middle of February, the astronauts will travel in a Crew Dragon spacecraft that will be propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The four crew members will spend 180 days aboard the International Space Station.
The flight will be SpaceX’s sixth operational mission as a part of the Commercial Crew Program, as the name suggests. Fall 2023 is anticipated to bring about Crew 7.
POLARIS DAWN SPACE TOURISM SPACEWALK MISSION
With Polaris Dawn, the first commercial spacewalk will be recorded in history. The mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A using a SpaceX Falcon 9 and a Crew Dragon. The mission will be led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who will be assisted by a completely private crew. The crew will return to Earth in the Crew Dragon with a splashdown at sea.
Currently, the earliest launch date is March 2023. The first of a three-part program, Polaris Dawn, will also mark SpaceX’s Starship’s first crewed flight.
BOEING STARLINER CREW FLIGHT TEST
As a participant in the Commercial Crew Program, Boeing hopes to launch its first crewed mission in April. Barry “Butch” Wilmore, the spacecraft’s commander, and Suni Williams, its pilot, will travel into space aboard the CST-100 Starliner, which will take off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a ULA Atlas V rocket.
The current launch date is sometime in April. Starliner will be approved for actual crewed flights to and from the ISS if everything goes according to plan during the Crew Flight Test (CFT).
JAPAN’S SMART LANDER FOR INVESTIGATING MOON
A small lunar lander from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is one of the less visible but extremely intriguing missions planned for 2023. (JAXA). According to JAXA, the Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) “embodies the research of techniques that enable accurate landing and the demonstration of the techniques on the moon.”
An H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima spaceport will launch SLIM and the XRISM (opens in new tab) space observatory no earlier than April.
INTUITIVE MACHINES COMMERCIAL LUNAR LANDER
There will be a lot of commercial activity in the new era of lunar exploration, and Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander could launch for the first time in March. A Falcon 9 rocket will be used for the launch, which will leave Florida’s Kennedy Space Center’s pad LC-39A. The moon-targeting lander, which is shaped like a hexagonal cylinder and has six landing legs, will send a variety of payloads to the Vallis Schroteri region of the moon.
The mission is a component of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which was unveiled in 2018.
EUROPE’S JUICE MISSION TO JUPITER
The Jupiter ICy moons Explorer, or JUICE, an orbiter mission from the European Space Agency to investigate Jupiter and its icy moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede, will lift off on one of the final Ariane 5 rockets in July. It will continue the cosmological legacy of the devoted Jupiter orbiters Juno and Galileo.
JUICE will launch from Kourou in French Guiana and spend more than seven years traveling through deep space with help from Venus and Earth’s gravity before entering Jupiter’s orbit in 2031. Through flybys of three planets, the spacecraft hopes to learn more about their surfaces and subsurface oceans, but Ganymede, the planet JUICE will eventually orbit, will receive the majority of attention.
LUNA 25: RUSSIA’S FIRST LUNAR MISSION SINCE 1976
The Soviet Union’s Luna 24 sample return mission, which took place in 1976, was Russia’s final lunar mission. With the Luna 25 lander, Russia is currently returning to the surface of our nearest planetary neighbor (formerly known as Luna-Glob). After several years of delays, the most recent schedule calls for launch in July.
To study the lunar regolith and its flimsy atmosphere, or exosphere, Luna 25 will attempt to land at Boguslavsky crater near the moon’s south pole, an area of intense international interest, if and when it is launched on its Soyuz-2-1b Fregat rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.