<story><title>SpaceX will soon fire up its Super Heavy booster for the first time</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/spacex-will-soon-fire-up-its-massive-super-heavy-booster-for-the-first-time/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mabbo</author><text>This will be a monumental accomplishment, when it launches for the first time.&lt;p&gt;4-6 times the payload to LEO as the Space Shuttle, but 100% reusable with the aim of fast turn-around times and minimal refurbishment, at a fraction of the price.&lt;p&gt;Detract from the eccentricity of the company&amp;#x27;s owner all you want, but the engineers making that rocket happen are doing brilliant work, in my book.</text></comment>
<story><title>SpaceX will soon fire up its Super Heavy booster for the first time</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/spacex-will-soon-fire-up-its-massive-super-heavy-booster-for-the-first-time/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>_Microft</author><text>If you are curious about the trajectory that the first orbital launch might follow, have a look at this article:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spaceflightnow.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;spacex-outlines-plans-for-around-the-world-starship-test-flight&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;spaceflightnow.com&amp;#x2F;2021&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;spacex-outlines-plans-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They are aiming to fly Starship over the Straits of Florida (i.e. between Florida and Cuba) which means it will be low inclination. I assume that this is to avoid overflying inhabited area &amp;#x27;early&amp;#x27; into the flight and especially not for too long, a trajectory bit further to the south would e.g. mean that they had to fly over the full length of Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I would expect them to be &amp;quot;out of the woods&amp;quot; already at this point in the flight though. The next critical part would be reentry north-west of Hawaii.</text></comment>