SpaceX continues to prepare for the next test flight of its giant Starship rocket.
SpaceX announced Thursday (April 4) via
That post He also shared two photos of the giant stainless steel booster held by the tower's “chopstick” arms at Starbase's orbital launch pad.
Related: Enjoy SpaceX Starship's third flight experience in stunning images
The Super Heavy is supposed to be placed in a static firing position, a pre-launch test in which the Raptor's 33 engines will burn for a few seconds while the vehicle remains pinned to the pad.
SpaceX has already conducted static launches with the booster partner, a 165-foot (50-meter) upper-stage spacecraft that will fly with Super Heavy on Starship's fourth test flight.
This mission could be launched as soon as early May, SpaceX President and COO Gwen Shotwell said last month.
SpaceX is developing Starship — a fully reusable vehicle that is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built — to transport people and cargo to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
The spacecraft has been launched three times so far: in April 2023, November 2023, and March 14 of this year. The giant rocket performed better on each successive flight, although none were completely successful.
Starship's two stages failed to separate as planned on its first mission, and SpaceX intentionally blew up the vehicle just four minutes later. The November flight had good phase separation, but that mission ended eight minutes after liftoff.
However, the March 14 flight took about 50 minutes. The spacecraft's upper stage accomplished a number of feats during that period, including opening the payload doors in space, before finally breaking apart while reentering Earth's atmosphere.
