SpaceX chief Elon Musk shared a video on Thursday showing the Starship rocket being stacked on the launchpad ahead of its fourth test flight.
The footage (below), which has been sped up, shows the spacecraft section being placed atop the booster at SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The fully stacked vehicle stands a colossal 120 meters tall.
Stacking Starship pic.twitter.com/FLAwrCI9Br
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2024
The Starship — comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft — became the most powerful rocket ever to fly when it lifted off for the first time in April 2023, packing 17 million pounds of thrust as it blasted skyward.
Earlier this week, Musk said he thinks the Starship’s fourth test flight will take place in three-to-five weeks. While the rocket may be ready to go, SpaceX is still waiting for a launch permit from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is continuing to investigate the third test flight, which took place two months ago.
While the first two Starship test flights ended only a few minutes in due to anomalies with the vehicle, the third flight lasted almost 50 minutes and achieved many of the goals SpaceX had been aiming for. One of the immediate goals is to increase the frequency of Starship launches. With seven months between the first and second test flights, and four months between the second and third, a launch next month would be clear proof that SpaceX is heading the right direction on this front. The company is also hoping to get permission to launch the mighty rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, which would also pave the way for more frequent flights.
Eventually, the SpaceX engineers want to land both stages of the rocket after every launch so that they can be reused in a similar way to how it already recycles the first stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket by landing it upright a few minutes after liftoff.
When fully tested and certified, SpaceX will use the Starship to carry crew and cargo to the moon. The company is also hoping to use the vehicle for the first crewed trip to Mars, possibly in the 2030s.
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SpaceX all set for a record-breaking rocket launch on Friday
UPDATE: SpaceX set a new record on Friday night by launching and landing a Falcon 9 booster for the 20th time. The original article is included below SpaceX’s update on the mission:
Since its first mission in November 2020, this single first stage has launched eight astronauts and more than 500 satellites, totaling 261+ metric tons to orbit in under four years pic.twitter.com/FVQwhAJto6
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 13, 2024
Watch SpaceX blast its megarocket engines in spectacular test
SpaceX recently lit all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster in a static fire test ahead of its fourth flight.
The tethered test took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and was performed without the Starship spacecraft atop the booster. The company shared a video showing the engines firing up:
SpaceX shares stunning night shot of its Super Heavy booster
SpaceX has released a breathtaking image (below left) of its Super Heavy booster, which has been moved to the launchpad ahead of the Starship’s fourth test flight. It shows the world’s most powerful launch vehicle on the pad at night, with a dramatic star-filled sky as the backdrop.
Super Heavy booster for Flight 4 moved to the pad at Starbase pic.twitter.com/A3aYgdPt8V
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 4, 2024