Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, said the space shuttle has a 'decent chance' of making orbit on its second test flight.
Since its last flight, which ended in an explosion, the company has decided to introduce 'hot-staging' on the rocket, a risky move as the spacecraft will light its engines as it is still essentially connected to its booster.
saturday was the first time we're doing it. And I'd say that's the riskiest part of flight two, he said during a livestreamed interview at the International Astronautical Federation annual conference on Thursday.
I think we have got a decent chance to reach orbit, he said.
SpaceX's most powerful rocket, the Starship, is the most powerful. Musk's plans to bring human beings to Mars and NASA's plans to bring astronauts to the moon are crucial.
It has yet to reach orbit. The Starship spacecraft stacked on top of its booster was launched for the first time in April, but the rocket burst after the two stages failed to separate.
The rocket also unexpectedly blew a crater into its launchpad when it was taking off. Debris was reported to have rained down on a town about five miles away from the rocket's launch site.
In September, Musk said the next iteration of Starship was ready to launch again. The company has yet to announce a release date for the next test flight, which should aim to reach Earth's orbit or just shy of it.
's a scooch below orbit, '' he said.
Since its first flight, SpaceX has introduced more than a thousand changes to the giant rocket, Musk told the journalist Ashlee Vance in June. One of these is hot staging, a move that should give the spaceship a boost of energy as it lights its engines while the booster is still pushing it forward.
Abhi Tripathi, the former mission director for SpaceX's Dragon spaceship, previously told Insider that Musk is 'usually not as optimistic' as he appears now.
Tripathi said he would consider this second test flight to be a success if two things happen.
'Tis the matter now,' he said, 'Tell me what happens afterward. I look forward to this being a smashing success.