SpaceX Successfully Launches Starship Rocket on Third Attempt
The vehicle is the largest and heaviest rocket ever built.
SpaceX has successfully launched its Starship rocket on its third attempt at a test flight. The rocket took off on Thursday morning, departing from the company’s launch site near Boca Chica Beach in Texas.
Marking the biggest rocket ever built, the Starship is referred to as a “super heavy” lift vehicle. The model stands at 397 feet (121 meters) tall and is designed to carry payloads of up to 220,000 ln (100 tons). It’s also meant to be reusable, though development of the rocket at its current state pretty much assumes the vehicle’s will destruct during these test launches.
The Starship was powered by 33 of SpaceX’s Raptor engines and elicited a plume of orange smoke as it climbed into the sky. The rocket didn’t quite make it to the intended splashdown in the Indian Ocean, however, and the booster portion of the model wound up falling into the Gulf of Mexico rather than undergoing a slower “burn” on its return to Earth.
Still, SpaceX is celebrating the launch with company members referring to it as “the furthest and fastest that Starship has ever flown.” The flight also allowed SpaceX to test some key data and metrics that will aid them in developing the Starship to eventually be capable of deploying satellites.
