SpaceX’s Super Heavy-Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, blasts off on the program’s 13th test flight in another critical milestone for Elon Musk’s rocket company. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX launched it’s 13th Super Heavy-Starship rocket Thursday, with the giant booster chalking up an on-target but “hard” splashdown off the Texas Gulf Coast while the Starship upper stage carried out a successful sub-orbital hop to the Indian Ocean.
Powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, the 397-foot-tall two-stage rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s “Starbase,” Texas, launch site at 5:51 p.m. EDT, putting on a spectacular show for area residents and tourists as it climbed away atop some 16 million pounds of thrust.
A launch attempt July 16 ended with a last-second computer-commanded abort when four Raptors failed to start properly. Those issues were addressed and the launch was reset for Thursday, only to have low clouds prompt a 24-hour delay.
But the weather cooperated Friday, all 33 first stage engines fired up normally and the rocket thundered away through a mostly clear sky.
