SpaceX moved the most flight-ready of its Starship rockets, Ship 24, to a launch site in South Texas on Saturday. While a launch is not imminent this week, it could take place as early as April 10, sources said.

 Earlier this week, the company lifted the massive "Super Heavy" first stage of its launch system onto a launch mount at the pad. The next step will involve lifting the Starship upper stage into place, atop the first stage. While these vehicles have been previously stacked for testing, this should be the final time they are positioned on the launch pad before lifting off.

In recent weeks technicians have added shielding to protect the launch mount and tower from the extreme heating from the launch of Super Heavy, which is powered by 33 Raptor engines. The launch vehicle will have about double the thrust of the two most powerful rockets ever to reach orbit, NASA's Saturn V and Space Launch System rockets.

With this work largely completed, the focus now turns toward the final significant hurdle standing between SpaceX's massive rocket and a launch attempt—a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. While such regulatory matters are uncertain, a source said good progress is being made toward the issuance of such a license during the first two weeks of April.

So the final hurdle is the "OK" from the government.  Always have to ask and then pay the government before you can do anything.  Who needs them, really?  States should decide, if anyone does, and no fee.  The corrupt and venal government gets enough from our taxes.  That should suffice.

Anyway, SpaceX previously completed a hot fire test of the Super Heavy first stage in early February. At the time, 31 of the rocket's 33 engines ignited and burned as intended. SpaceX determined that its engineers had obtained enough data from the test to proceed toward a launch attempt. After that the booster and upper stage were removed to facilitate work on the launch mount.

After it launches, the Super Heavy rocket will fly from SpaceX's Starbase launch site eastward, over the Gulf of Mexico. For this test, the booster will not attempt a landing. After stage separation, the Starship upper vehicle is intended to reach orbital velocity before attempting a reentry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. If all goes well, it will make a controlled descent and landing into the ocean just north of the Hawaiian islands.