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SpaceX's Starship rocket is heading towards a highly anticipated orbital test flight later this month. The company has been developing the rocket for more than a year at its test facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, and an orbital test flight is one of the final steps before Starship can become operational. While testing picked up the pace earlier this year in the form of fiery static fires that saw the world's most powerful rocket under development fire up most of its engines, since then, it's been quiet on the SpaceX front as the company carefully weighs its options to ensure that Starship does fly when a test does occur.

However, placeholders from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suggest that the earliest possible attempt at an orbital test flight might occur as soon as next week.

SpaceX's Starship Orbital Test Flight Campaign Might Start On April 10th

Before SpaceX can fly its 394 feet tall rocket to orbit, the firm has to first secure a new license from the FAA. This is because SpaceX's current launch license only allows for suborbital launches, similar to the tests conducted in 2020 and 2021. Since details on FAA license applications are seldom made public, it's only speculation to wager when a grant might occur - but whispers on the street suggest that approval might be headed SpaceX's way.

The rumors are further 'boosted' by two interesting new developments - one from NASA and the other from the FAA. For high profile events, such as capsules returning from space, NASA often uses its WB-57 aircraft to monitor the spacecraft. The WB-57 is a bomber-turned-observation plane, and the aircraft's calendar is publicly available. The calendar shows its planned usage and a placeholder for the SpaceX Starship surfaced soon after the static fire tests earlier this year.

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Two new placeholders for different WB-57 aircraft have been marked almost a month after the original placeholder's date. The first is for April 10, and it reserves two planes - JSC #926 and JSC #927 - for that date. The second is for April 11 and reserves the JSC #927. NASA has three WB-57 aircraft in its fleet, and the next three days in the calendar are also empty. To further build on this, NASA has also reserved the JSC #926 for the entire month, starting from the 15th of April and ending in the first week of May.

The space agency is joined by the FAA, whose operations advisory provides more details for a potential Starshp orbital test flight. The FAA is more explicit than NASA, as its schedule locks in operations for "SPACEX STARSHIP SUPERHEAVY BOCA CHICA, TX" on the 10th of April and marks the next two days for backup opportunities.

The final piece in the puzzle when trying to predict a possible SpaceX test in Boca Chica is local road and beach closures. These restrict public access to areas in the vicinity of the SpaceX launch site, and they are also often followed by blast danger notices. On this front, however, no notices have been made in Boca Chica, indicating that SpaceX is yet to either make a formal application itself or an application is under processing.

SpaceX's highly anticipated rocket test will be one of the largest in history, with statements from its chief Mr. Elon Musk indicating that the firm aims to throttle the Super Heavy Booster's 33 Raptor 2 rocket engines to at least 90%. SpaceX's latest static fire in February saw 31 engines light up to generate 7.9 million pounds of thrust.