The largest rocket in history is ready for the first orbital launch. New photos and videos of Starship and Megazilla
In August last year, SpaceX first assembled a full-fledged prototype of the Starship rocket, after which it was disassembled for further tests. But if at that time the rocket was assembled just to check how well Starship and Super Heavy connect to each other, this time the rocket was assembled before the first orbital launch. It was supposed to take place before the end of last year, but the local regulator did not issue SpaceX a permit. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now has until Feb. 28 to issue the permit.
The launch tower at Starbase will help stack Starship and catch the Super Heavy rocket booster pic.twitter.com/xXmonamEDA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 11, 2022
The rocket, consisting of the Super Heavy accelerator and the Starship spacecraft, is designed to deliver cargo and people to the Moon and Mars. It will be able to deliver to low Earth orbit a cargo weighing up to 150 tons with the return of both stages to Earth, as well as with the possibility of docking and refueling in orbit.
In addition, they showed a video with tests of the Raptor 2 engine:
Raptor 2 generates more than 230 tons of thrust at sea level, up from Raptor 1’s 185 tons pic.twitter.com/o1Rqjwx6Ql
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 11, 2022
A spectacular computer video demonstrating the use of the rocket was also published.
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