SpaceX launched a Starship prototype back before a test flight
SpaceX continues to prepare for the first-ever orbital test flight of the Starship Mars rocket.
SpaceX He conducted another "steady fire" test today (December 15th) at the South Texas facility, lighting the Ship 24, a prototype of StarshipIt is 165 feet (50 m) tall on the spacecraft's upper stage.
One of the 24's six Raptor engines ignited at 2:01 p.m. EDT (1901 GMT; 1:01 p.m. local Texas time), firing for seven seconds while the vehicle remained moored to the ground. The brief test was captured on video by NASASpaceFlight (Opens in a new tab) And the Rocket Ranch Boca Chica (Opens in a new tab).
Related: SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy booster test scores 14 engines (Video)
The vessel completed 24 single-engine static fire tests at Starbase in Texas pic.twitter.com/gF9beLcarXDecember 15, 2022
Ship 24 will fly on the first orbital test flight of the Starship program, which was founded and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk He said it could take off in the next few months. The prototype has already been through a series of steady shootings; He. She All six Raptors lit up in Septemberfor example.
Ship 24 will launch atop Booster 7, a prototype for the massive first stage of the Starship Super Heavy. SpaceX has put Booster 7 through its paces, too. On November 29, for example, the giant rocket 11 of 33 Raptors lit up. Fifteen days before that, the augmented A 14 motorized steady fire.
SpaceX is developing fully reusable spacecraft to carry people and cargo to the Moon and Mars, and to launch a variety of other missions close to home. For example, SpaceX plans to launch the majority of the next generation Starlink Musk said that Internet satellites use Starship.
SpaceX has already arranged for some customers to fly to the moon. NASA chose the vehicle as its first manned lander Artemis Moon programmeand Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has booked the spacecraft mission around the moon that will carry a handful of artists and influencers, including "Astronaut Every Day" Tim Dodd.
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