SpaceX is gearing up for the ninth test flight of its Starship megarocket.
The spaceflight company released footage on Saturday showing the rocket’s upper stage — called the Starship — being moved toward the launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Following engine tests in the coming days, the Starship will be raised atop the first-stage Super Heavy, the most powerful booster in the world, which is capable of creating around 17 million pounds of thrust at launch.
SpaceX has yet to announce a target date for the ninth test of the Starship, though many expect that it will take place before the end of this month.
The Elon Musk-led company last flew the Starship in early March in a mission that it saw successfully “catch” the 233-feet-tall (71-meter) Super Heavy booster for the third time. You can watch the remarkable feat below:
Using giant mechanical arms to secure the booster in this way gives SpaceX the chance to quickly check and refurbish the vehicle for another flight, similar to how it already reuses its trusty Falcon 9 rocket. Such a system helps the company to make big savings in mission costs.
SpaceX was given a boost last week when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave it permission to dramatically increase the number of annual Starship launches from its Starbase facility from five to 25, which means it could soon be sending the massive rocket skyward a couple of times a month as it moves toward finalizing the design.
Once it’s ready for operational flights, NASA is expected to use it alongside its own SLS rocket for crew and cargo missions to the moon as part of the Artemis program. NASA has already selected SpaceX to build a modified version of the Starship spacecraft to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, which could take place as early as 2027. The mission would be NASA’s first crewed landing since 1972.
The Starship could also send the first astronauts to Mars in a mission that some believe could happen in the 2030s.
Much depends on the upcoming Starship tests, with the next launch expected in the coming weeks.
