SpaceX has taken a big step toward the 10th flight of the Starship rocket, moving the first-stage Super Heavy booster to the launchpad at the company’s Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas.
The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company shared several images (below) of the Super Heavy booster — the most powerful ever to fly — on its X account on Thursday. One of them shows an aerial view of the Starbase site with the Super Heavy being moved toward the launchpad. Another is of the booster at the launchpad, while the third image shows a close-up of the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines, which will generate around 17 million pounds of thrust at launch as it lifts off on Sunday. The upper-stage Starship spacecraft has yet to be placed atop the Super Heavy.
SpaceX is targeting Sunday, August 24, for the 10th test flight of the Starship. For full details on how to watch a livestream of the launch, Digital Trends has you covered.
Sunday’s flight will be the first Starship launch since May 27. SpaceX had hoped to fly earlier than this weekend, but a sudden explosion at Starbase that wrecked one of the Starship spacecraft killed the plan. An investigation attributed the explosion to a technical flaw involving a damaged high-pressure nitrogen tank inside the spacecraft.
Unlike some of the previous Starship flights, SpaceX will not be landing the 71-meter-tall booster back at Starbase, instead attempting a controlled landing in open water.
Looking further ahead, NASA is planning to use a modified version of the Starship spacecraft for its first crewed moon landing since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The Artemis III mission is currently targeted for 2027, though depending on how SpaceX’s Starship testing goes, among other factors, the highly anticipated mission could be shifted to a later date.
Beyond that, NASA wants to use the Starship system to carry additional crews and cargo to the lunar surface, and even deploy it for the first crewed mission to Mars, which could take place in 2030s.
Shortly before Sunday’s flight, Musk is expected to give an update on the long-term plans for the Starship, which should include details about much of the above.
