SpaceX ’s Super Heavy booster make its way to the launchpad . SpaceX
SpaceX has shared photos of the Super Heavy booster being transported to the launch pad at its facility in Boca Chica , Texas , ahead of the Starship ’s 5th test flight , which is expected to take place in the first half of August .
Flight 5 Super Heavy booster rocket move to the diggings at Starbasepic.twitter.com/Jc8yAa07ni
SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster makes its way to the launchpad.SpaceX
& mdash ; SpaceX ( @SpaceX)July 9 , 2024
The next part of the preparation will need place the Starship spacecraft atop the first - stage Super Heavy . Collectively , the vehicle is call the Starship .
Packing 17 million pounds of thrust at launching , the 120 - meter - tall Starship is the big and most powerful rocket ever to aviate . That ’s duplicate that of NASA ’s next - generation Space Launch System ( SLS ) rocket , which has flown once to date , and more than twice that of the legendary Saturn V Eruca vesicaria sativa , which power astronauts toward the moon as part of the Apollo commission five decades ago .
When the spaceship has been fully tested and licensed for usable trajectory , it will likely be used to delight bunch and cargo to the lunar month . More determinedly , it could also be used for the first crew flight to Mars , though much work still needs to be done for that to happen .
The Starship first launched in 2023 in a test flight that lasted only a matter of minutes before an anomaly forced SpaceX solid ground controllers to destroy the rocket in midair . The 2nd escape endure a picayune longer before suffering a like luck , though that time the skyrocket managed to achieve stage separation .
Two subsequent psychometric test , the most recent of which took position last month , enjoy much greater success , with the Super Heavy fulfil its commission goals and achieving a landing burn before coming down in the Gulf of Mexico , and the spaceship accomplish orbit .
The fifth test flight will see the SpaceX team try something entirely new as it attempts to use the mechanical implements of war on the launching towerto “ catch ” the first - stage boosteras it comes in to landed estate .
bring the Super Heavy home in this way will allow SpaceX to reuse the booster unit for multiple commission , helping it to cut costs . There ’s certainly no guarantee that the catching maneuver will do work on the first attempt , but judge by the success SpaceX has had with landing and recycle its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket ( albeit using landing place pegleg rather than mechanical arms ) , there is a mellow degree of trust that the team will nail the maneuver before too long .
