Space and aerospace industry are, this Thursday, this Thursday, to the expectation of the possible launch of the Starship spacecraft of Spacexa flight that, if concretized, could be visible from Puerto Rico.
This is the eighth proof flight of the powerful rocket, whose goal is to reach the moon and Mars to establish permanent colonies, a vision considered viable by the billionaire Elon Musk, Founder of Spacex.
According to the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC), Starship launch is scheduled for 7:30 pm (Purto Rico time).
“After confirming whether it took off, it could be visible between 11 and 13 minutes later looking northwest or about 315 degrees at the cell phone compass,” said Eddie Irizarry, vice president of the SAC, in written statements.
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“Even there is the possibility of slightly perceiving the sound or roar of the rocket if we pay attention”he added. In fact, this was the case of the sixth test takeoff of the aircraft that was sighted from the island on November 19, 2024.
Then, Several Puerto Ricans reported having heard a curious sound while passing on the island.
On this occasion, Starship would be passing at a height of 170 km (105.6 miles) over Puerto Rico, moving from northwest to east. The aircraft will take off from Boca Chica, Texas, will touch the north of Puerto Rico, and continue towards southern Africa, where it will try to descend over the waters of the Indian Ocean.
Starship consists of a two -stage flight. In the first stage, Spacex recovers the main propellant rocket, known in English as “Super Heavy”, once culminates its main task of taking the Starship to space. In the second stage, Starship takes up his mission and is designed to return to the surface and land vertically, at least, in theory.
Beyond its impressive sighting, many observers and industry experts are in the expectation of this new release, after January 16 the seventh test flight culminated in an explosion on the Atlantic Ocean.
That day, the company made a successful capture of the main rocket. However, he lost communication with the ship while he was in the space on the Atlantic. A few hours later, people began publishing photos and videos on the social networks of flashes in the sky on the Caribbean when the pieces of the experimental ship re -entered the atmosphere of the earth after disintegrating.
The rubble, which for many seemed as “fireworks”, were even seen from Puerto Rico. After the explosion, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) demanded Spacex to carry out an investigation.
In fact, the newspaper The New York Times reported that the federal agency arrested Temporarily Starship’s releases until the end of the investigation.
The Astronomy Society urged citizens to be attentive to takeoff updates, because “although everything is ready for the new attempt, rocket releases are very prone to being postponed.”