The company is working on a rocket that can carry both humans and other cargo to the moon and beyond. The company shared footage of the rocket being stacked at its Starbase development facility in Boca Chica, Texas, in preparation for the first test flight.
According to space.com, the spaceship and Super Heavy boosters are stacked by a launch tower that uses twochopsticks to hold and lift them into place. The tower will be responsible for catching the vehicle when it comes back to Earth.
Launch and catch tower stacking Starship at Starbase pic.twitter.com/KOpX8tZMHh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 21, 2022
The first test of the Starship could happen as soon as October or November according to the CEO of the company. He said that they would have two boosters and ships ready for flight by that time.
Issues such as a delayed review by the FAA and a test of the Super Heavy booster engine which ended in an explosion have caused the test of the Starship to be delayed.
The company wants to use the Starship system to carry more cargo than the company's successful Falcon 9 rocket. It is intended for NASA's upcoming missions to the moon, with a variant called the Starship Human Landing System intended to be used to transfer astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface, as well as possible future missions to Mars.
The first launch of the Space Launch System was delayed due to Hurricane Ian which rolled over Florida and forced the delay of the planned launch.
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