Starship: SpaceX prepares for exercise, test flight of most powerful rocket ever

SpaceX plans to conduct a practice launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever, next week and possibly conduct its first test flight the following week, the private space company said Thursday.

SpaceX released images of the massive starship, designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, on its launch pad in the company’s Texas facility.

“Starship is fully stacked at Starbase,” SpaceX said in a tweet. “The team aims to start a launch exercise next week, followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~ a week later pending regulatory approval.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also tweeted: “Starship is stacked and ready for launch next week pending regulatory approval.”

SpaceX needs a green light from the Federal Aviation Administration before it can conduct an orbital test launch.

In February, SpaceX conducted a successful test launch of 33 Raptor engines using Starship’s first stage booster, AFP reported.

The 230-foot (69 m) Super Heavy booster was anchored to the ground during a test launch called static fire to prevent it from lifting. The craft consists of a reusable capsule that would carry crew and cargo, as well as a first stage booster.

NASA has selected the Starship capsule to carry its astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2025 at the earliest.

The US space agency will launch astronauts into lunar orbit itself in November 2024 using its own heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for more than a decade.

Starship is both larger and more powerful than SLS. It produces 17 million pounds of thrust, more than double that of the Saturn V rockets used to send the Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

SpaceX plans to eventually put the starship into orbit and then refuel it with another starship so it can continue on to Mars or beyond.

(with the contribution of the agency)

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