At 3:13 a.m. local time in South Texas, the Starship prototype, dubbed SN8 (or serial number 8), launched
It is worth noting that this is an important stepis on track to prepare SN8 for a 15-kilometer test flight later this month or early November. One team prepared to fire up the rocket in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday, testing its systems to ensure they were ready to handle cooled liquid oxygen and methane fuel, as well as the recent installation of three Raptor engines. In turn, another team assembled the nose cone that will be mounted on top of the rocket.
The development of the SN8 prototype itself was relativelyfast. This fall, SpaceX built the SN8 core and transported it from its South Texas plant barns to a nearby launch site in early October. From 6 to 8 October, it underwent three “proof tests” to ensure the designers were able to ensure the integrity of the large stainless steel fuel tanks. SN8 then completed a static fire test - the moment of truth for any launch vehicles - early Tuesday morning.
SpaceX expects Starship to eventuallyAs a result, it will replace the working Falcon 9 rocket. Recall that in just ten years it has become the most "experimental" rocket in the United States - it has already launched 95 launches. Starship is slated to send cargo missions, and ultimately SpaceX will be able to send large crews to the Moon and Mars. NASA has already awarded the company an initial $ 135 million contract to study plans to land astronauts on the moon as part of its Artemis program.
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