Skip to main content

SpaceX images show its mighty Super Heavy rocket back on the launchpad

SpaceX has shared a cool set of images showing its mighty Super Heavy booster ahead of its second test flight.

The most powerful rocket ever built, which stands at 120 meters, was recently moved to the launchpad for additional testing in preparation for its next flight, possibly in the coming months.

“Super Heavy Booster 9 transported back to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for additional preflight testing,” the private spaceflight company said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Super Heavy Booster 9 transported back to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for additional preflight testing pic.twitter.com/C30Gh5i9Cb

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 23, 2023

The first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship is collectively known as the Starship and when ready is expected to carry crew and cargo to the moon, Mars, and possibly beyond.

But before that can happen, plenty of testing has to take place.

During its first attempt at an orbital flight in April, the Starship suffered a dramatic midair failure just minutes after leaving the launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Despite the mishap, the company heralded the mission as a success simply for clearing the launchpad. The several minutes of flight gave SpaceX engineers enough data to work with to refine the rocket’s design and flight systems, and so there’s increasing hope that the vehicle will actually make it to orbit next time around.

Since the Starship’s failed mission four months ago, SpaceX has already been busy conducting additional Super Heavy engine tests, as shown in this video clip.

The ground-based test fire of the Super Heavy’s powerful Raptor engines also put a new, more robust launchpad through its paces after the last one was wrecked by the sheer force and pressure generated during April’s launch.

Before SpaceX can send the Super Heavy skyward for the second time, it needs clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is currently assessing the impact of the first launch on the surrounding area. Environmentalist groups recently sued the FAA, claiming that it failed to properly analyze the environmental damage that SpaceX’s Starship would cause to the surrounding area prior to the first test launch, which saw debris fall on a wide area following the launchpad’s disintegration.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX images flaunt the awesome power of Starship rocket
SpaceX testing its Super Heavy booster.

Previous

Next

Read more
Watch SpaceX test fire the world’s most powerful rocket
watch spacex test fire the worlds most powerful rocket super heavy static

Starship Super Heavy Static Fire

SpaceX has performed a static fire test of its Super Heavy booster ahead of its second test flight.

Read more
Watch SpaceX blast a 5-tonne Intelsat satellite to orbit
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket leaves the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 3, 2023.

SpaceX successfully launched a 5-metric-ton Intelsat communications satellite to orbit on Thursday, August 3.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1 a.m. (10 p.m. Wednesday).

Read more