The 33 Raptor engines were installed at the base of the Super Heavy rocket as the company carried out final work for the booster's first orbital flight.
The Super Heavy rocket will be the most powerful space vehicle ever launched when it gets off the ground, and is destined to one day carry astronauts to the moon.
When the Super Heavy blasts into space, there will be six Raptor engines on the spaceship. The Super Heavy is capable of independent flight and can even land upright on the ground.
33 Raptor engines installed on the Booster, 6 on the Ship pic.twitter.com/l7K6rH96qa
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 2, 2022
The Super Heavy booster will be ready for its first flight later this month, according to the boss of the company.
A report from the FAA concluded that there were no major issues preventing the company from using its Star base facility for orbital launches. The FAA published a list of measures and assurances that need to be sorted out before the first flight of the spaceship.
The rocket is on the launchpad waiting for a static fire test to make sure the engines and other systems are working correctly.
The Super Heavy is capable of 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rocket that powered astronauts toward the moon, and considerably more than the 8.8 million pounds of thrust offered by NASA's next- generation SLS rocket.
NASA wants to build lunar bases for long-term astronauts as part of the Artemis program, which also has crewed missions to Mars in its sights.
There is a recommended video.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
