This topic discusses the forthcoming SpaceX sixth flight test of the integrated Starship (#31) and Super Heavy booster (#13), currently scheduled for launch no earlier than 2024-11-18 22:00 UTC with a 30 minute launch window [pushed back to 2024-11-19 22:00 UTC as of 2024-11-19]. The planned flight, if successful, will launch the craft on a near-orbital trajectory, with the first stage booster performing a boost back burn and launch tower catch (with fallback to soft water landing in the Gulf of Mexico), and the upper stage Starship accelerating to a velocity slightly less than orbital speed, causing it to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
Key differences from the last flight surround Starship, including an afternoon launch to allow a photogenic daylight splashdown of Starship. Also, Starship will conduct an in-space burn to simulate a future deorbit burn. A higher angle of attack descent will push the limits of flap control. Other changes involve thermal protection experiments including removing tiles from regions planned for catch hardware (implying it may be a while before we see a catch attempt).