SpaceX has confirmed plans to launch its giant Starship rocket for the third time on March 14.
The company is awaiting regulatory launch approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, as the missile cannot be launched without approval.
The Federal Aviation Administration has not yet given SpaceX the green light for its next mission, although there are signs that the company expects approval soon.
Over the weekend, Starbase teams completed an all-important launch training. The nearly 400-foot-long rocket was loaded with more than 4.5 million liters of fuel and the team repeated the countdown sequence.
Late last month, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it had completed its investigation into the second launch of the Starship rocket, and the regulator said at the time that SpaceX needed to implement dozens of corrective actions before issuing a revised launch license.
SpaceX conducted the first orbital flight test of the Starship rocket in April of last year, and there were seven months between the second test in November of last year.
Flight tests ended with the Super Heavy booster and the upper stage, also called the Starship, exploding mid-flight.
In the second test, the company demonstrated some basic technologies that were not possible in the first test.
The company hopes to continue this trend, and the third test presented a number of new goals, including demonstrating fuel transfer during a Starship upper stage launch and restarting Raptor engines for the first time in space.
Transporting fuel is a core competency the company must master to complete NASA's multibillion-dollar mission to the moon.
If all goes according to plan, the Super Heavy launcher is expected to separate from the spacecraft shortly after launch using a new phased separation technology that activates the upper stage of its engine to propel the rocket away.
The booster then completes the process and falls into the Gulf of Mexico, similar to the return of a Falcon 9 rocket booster to Earth.
Meanwhile, the ship's upper stage continues to climb into orbit, shuts down its engines once it reaches orbital speed, and orbits most of the Earth before landing in the ocean.
Unlike the previous two missions, this time the upper stage follows a new path, landing a spacecraft in the Indian Ocean and attempting to restart the Raptor's engines in space.