US private-sector space company SpaceX, founded and effectively led by South African-born engineer and entrepreneur Elon Musk, hopes to be ready next month to carry out the first orbital launch of its new Starship spacecraft. This was stated on Friday at the (US) National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, the journal Space News reported. Starship prototype SN15 successfully conducted a suborbital flight and subsequent landing on May 5. This had followed four unsuccessful attempts at suborbital flights. Up till now, it had been assumed that SpaceX would next carry out a second suborbital flight with SN15, but that vehicle has been removed from the launch pad at the company’s Boca Chica facility, known as Starbase, in the US state of Texas. The company is known to have another prototype Starship, designated SN16, at its assembly facility.
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