We are already just weeks away from the first flight of SpaceX’s Super Heavy rocket and Starship. After several delays in its takeoff, new publications on Twitter by the company seem to portend good news.
Recently, SpaceX shared a video where he lets us see the coupling of the Starship on the Super Heavy. Now, new images shared via flickr, offer an update on the trailer, allowing us to observe the rocket on the launch pad Starbase, in Boca Chica (Texas). It will be from here where will take off to finally put the huge spacecraft into orbit.
Before the flight takes place, SpaceX ensures that will carry out a series of “wet general tests”. In this way, they will put the rocket through several necessary procedures before launch.
This process is essential, as let engineers know if there are any defects in the design or in the procedures to be followed. Upon completion, the Super Heavy and Starship will likely face one last series of tests before flight.
“The team is conducting a series of tests ahead of the Starship’s first test flight in the coming weeks, including full-stak tests and firing all 33 of Booster 7’s Raptor engines.”
SpaceX from Twitter
When can we see the first flight of the Starship over the Super Heavy?
Although we still do not have an official date, the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has already let it be known on previous occasions that the first flight could happen next month. Likewise, the official account of the company mentions on a recurring basis that the launch into orbit will take place in “the next few weeks”, so everything seems to be moving in the right direction.
The Starship has suffered multiple delays in embarking on its test flight. One of them occurred in 2021, when a first launch was postponed for environmental reasons. Then, at the beginning of 2022, everything seemed to indicate that we would see takeoff, which of course did not happen. The third time’s a charm, so maybe we’ll see the launch of SpaceX’s ship and rocket soon.
The new generation of ships promises to take us much further
For its part, the Super Heavy rocket will take off with an amazing power of 17 million pounds (7,590 tons of thrust) at the time of launch. A) Yes, It will quickly become the most powerful that has ever flown.. In fact, to put you in context, NASA’s most powerful rocket, the SLS that carried the Orion spacecraft to the Moon, only generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust (3,987 tons of thrust). It’s still a more than impressive number, but the Super Heavy promises so much more.
Due to this power, the launch of the Super Heavy rocket and SpaceX’s Starship promises to be a spectacle never seen before. Also, if all goes well, will allow NASA to advance its plans for manned missions to the Moon. Once this first objective has been achieved, Mars would be the next celestial body to reach.
On the Artemis III mission, NASA will use a modified version of the Starship to put the first woman and the first black person on the Moon. In case everything continues on the right track, this should happen at some point in 2025. But this is not the end of Starship, as SpaceX also wants to carry out its own missions, as is the case with dearMoon, with the that the company intends to take nine people to fly over the lunar surface.
Though the future seems bright, There’s still much to do. We will continue to wait for the first test flight of the impressive Super Heavy rocket and the Starship spacecraft. Until then, all that remains is to keep an eye on SpaceX’s movements on their social networks.
