The world’s strongest rocket is nearing its subsequent take a look at flight.
The seventh launch of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket is anticipated throughout the subsequent month or so. After a current static hearth of the automobile’s huge Tremendous Heavy first-stage booster, the corporate has prepped the Starship higher stage for testing of its personal.
“Starship prepared for testing forward of Flight 7,” SpaceX mentioned in a post on X on Wednesday (Dec. 11), sharing images of the Starship automobile on the transfer to its take a look at stand on the firm’s Starbase facility in South Texas.
SpaceX has not introduced a date for the upcoming built-in take a look at flight (IFT), however an e mail from NASA to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration identifies Jan. 11because the possible goal.
When the Starship higher stage is stacked atop Tremendous Heavy, the built-in automobile stands almost 400 toes (122 meters) tall — larger than another rocket ever constructed. The higher stage, referred to as Ship, measures 165 toes (50 m) tall by itself.
Starship is the first-ever totally reusable launch automobile; each Tremendous Heavy and Ship are designed to return to their launch websites to be caught mid-air by the Starship launch tower’s “chopstick arms”.
SpaceX first tried to catch Tremendous Heavy throughout IFT-5, which launched in October. That attempt succeeded; the chopsticks made a picture-perfect snag of the returning booster.
The corporate wished to make one other booster catch on IFT-6, which flew on Nov. 19. However communication points with the tower scuttled that try, and Tremendous Heavy as an alternative diverted for a managed splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico.
IFT-7 might be SpaceX’s first Starship launch of 2025. This yr noticed the launch of 4 Starship flights, spaced out over March, June, October and November, and doubling the variety of Starship flights from 2023.
The variety of Starship launches in 2025 is anticipated to extend once more, as Starship checks off containers towards operational qualification. SpaceX and NASA are looking forward to Starship’s success, because the house company has tapped the brand new SpaceX automobile because the lunar lander for the upcoming Artemis 3 mission to place astronauts on the moon.
