SPACEX IS closing In on the Initial launch of its Starship rocket after a ground test on its engines. The first launch attempt is expected in March 2023, said Gary Henry, SpaceX's senior advisor for national security space solutions, during the February 2023 Space Mobility conference in Orlando, Florida, reported Space News. Henry said: "Pretty much all of the prerequisites to supporting an orbital demonstration attempt here in the next month or so look good." The Starship launch attempt - from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas - requires a launch licence from the US Federal Aviation Administration. "We hope to secure that licence in the very near future," Henry noted. Should the FAA issue the licence, SpaceX could make a launch attempt "probably in the month of March", he added. Starship will be a fully reusable launch vehicle. Its first-stage Super Heavy booster has 33 Raptor engines that will generate 16.7 million pounds of thrust on launch - making it the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
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