SpaceX continues to make full preparations for the first launch of the Starship spacecraft, which will be used for...
What is known
SpaceX wanted to send a spacecraft toorbital flight last year, but could not resolve all issues with the regulators. Elon Musk recently promised that the launch of Starship will be in February-March 2023. The day before, the American billionaire published a photo of the rocket and the ship, adding that the launch attempt would take place soon.
Starship launch attempt soon pic.twitter.com/QBprVsAH7m
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2023
The prototype ship is called Ship 24.It is equipped with six Raptor engines. Super Heavy will become the most powerful rocket in the world. That title now belongs to the Space Launch System (SLS), which was used on the Artemis I lunar mission. The Super Heavy prototype is called the Booster 7. It is powered by 33 Raptor engines, but the company has never tested them all at once.
More pics of Starship fully stacked on the orbital launch pad at Starbase → https://t.co/095WHWN1zX pic.twitter.com/pYzC9nQYSc
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 12, 2023
The total height of Starship and Super Heavy is120 meters. After launching from the Starbase spaceport, the rocket will return to Earth, splashing down on an unmanned pad in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship will land on the “other side” of the United States, near the Hawaiian Islands. But before that it will fly around the Earth.