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SpaceX recently fired up the engines on its newest Starship spacecraft in preparation for an upcoming test flight, which could be just a few weeks away.
The company conducted a “hard launch” of the 165-foot (50-meter) upper stage of its Starship spacecraft on Friday afternoon (July 26) at its Starbase facility, near Brownsville, Texas. We got a sneak peek at the event, thanks to the pictures And a video Which SpaceX posted on X on Saturday (July 27).
Static fires—in which the engines are briefly ignited while the vehicle remains on a launch or test pad—are a common pre-launch experience. SpaceX is already preparing for a Starship flight; it conducted a static fire with the spacecraft’s first-stage partner on July 15.
It’s not yet clear exactly when Flight 5 will launch. On July 5, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said Starship would launch again “in four weeks,” suggesting a target date of next Friday (August 2) or so. But the company now appears to be targeting late August or early September. According to media reports.
Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built: The entire vehicle stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall. Both of its stages—the spacecraft, known as Starship or simply “the ship,” and the booster, called Super Heavy—are designed to be fully reusable and fast.
SpaceX believes that the combination of power and reusability of Starship will be revolutionary, making colonization of the Moon and Mars economically feasible. NASA is on board; the agency selected Starship as the first crewed lander for its Artemis lunar exploration program.
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The spacecraft’s four test flights so far have been conducted in April 2023, November 2023, and March and June of this year. The spacecraft has performed better on each successive flight. On the most recent mission, for example, the spacecraft reached space and survived the return trip through Earth’s atmosphere, and the Super Heavy spacecraft hit its target in the Gulf of Mexico.
Flight 5 appears to be a new path for the big booster. Musk said the company wants to catch the heavy rocket back using the “chopstick” arms of Starbase’s giant launch tower, a strategy that would enable faster inspection, refurbishment and relaunch of the vehicle in the future.
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