SpaceX’s highly anticipated Starship rocket has been stacked on the launchpad, a significant milestone ahead of its fourth test flight. The impressive footage released by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shows the spacecraft section being meticulously placed atop the booster at the company’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Once assembled, the towering vehicle stands at a colossal 120 meters tall.
The Starship, comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft, made history as the most powerful rocket ever launched in April 2023. Its immense thrust of 17 million pounds propelled it skyward, marking a pivotal moment in space exploration.
While the rocket hardware is ready for liftoff, SpaceX awaits launch approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is currently conducting a thorough review of the third test flight, which took place two months ago. Notably, the first two test flights were curtailed within minutes due to anomalies, but the third flight achieved significant milestones, lasting almost 50 minutes.
One of SpaceX’s immediate goals is to ramp up the frequency of Starship launches. With seven months between the first and second test flights and four months between the second and third, a launch next month would serve as tangible evidence of progress towards this goal. Additionally, the company is seeking approval to launch the mighty rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, which would further facilitate more frequent flights.
The ultimate aspiration for the Starship is to achieve reusability, similar to SpaceX’s successful Falcon 9 rocket. By landing both stages after each launch, the company aims to significantly reduce launch costs and enable more frequent missions. Once fully tested and certified, the Starship will embark on missions to carry crew and cargo to the moon and potentially pave the way for the first crewed trip to Mars in the 2030s.
This upcoming fourth test flight represents a crucial step in the development and testing of the Starship rocket. As SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, the successful completion of this flight will bring the company closer to realizing its ambitious goals.
