Super Heavy – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Elon Musk’s success criteria for Starship test flight: “Don’t blow up the launch pad”

April 19, 2023 Stephen Clark

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, did his best to set low expectations heading into the first test flight of the gargantuan Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket this week. “Just don’t blow up the launch pad,” Musk said.

SpaceX’s Starship test flight delayed until Thursday after valve problem

April 17, 2023 Stephen Clark

SpaceX scrubbed the first test launch of its huge new rocket Monday due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system on the 33-engine Super Heavy booster, delaying the widely-anticipated flight from South Texas until at least Thursday.

How SpaceX’s Starship stacks up to other rockets

April 17, 2023 Clive Simpson

SpaceX Starship is set to propel itself into the record books today on its maiden flight, becoming the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever launched by humankind into space, topping a role call of famous and history-making heavy-lift launch vehicles including the mighty Saturn 5 that first took humans to the moon.

Live coverage: SpaceX scrubs launch attempt for Starship test flight

April 17, 2023 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX called off a launch attempt in Texas Monday for the Super Heavy booster and Starship launch vehicle, blaming a bad valve on the first stage. The next launch attempt for the world’s largest rocket is scheduled for Thursday, depending on weather and a fix for the valve problem.

Video: Sights and sounds from Starbase on eve of Starship launch attempt

April 16, 2023 Stephen Clark

We captured the sights and sounds of SpaceX’s Starbase launch complex in Texas on the eve of the first launch attempt for the fully-stacked Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket on a test flight aiming for near orbital velocity.

Video: Starship stacked atop Super Heavy booster ahead of first launch attempt

April 15, 2023 Stephen Clark

This time-lapse video shows the “chopstick” mechanism lifting the Starship atop the Super Heavy booster Saturday ahead of the inaugural test flight of the fully-stacked rocket from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas.

FAA clears SpaceX to launch world’s largest rocket

April 15, 2023 Stephen Clark

The Federal Aviation Administration approved a commercial license Friday for the first full-scale test flight of SpaceX’s nearly 400-foot-tall Super Heavy and Starship mega-rocket from South Texas, a launch SpaceX said could happen as soon as Monday morning.

Schedule for SpaceX’s Starship test flight hinges on FAA regulatory approval

April 13, 2023 Stephen Clark

SpaceX continues to prepare for a launch attempt as soon as next week for the first test flight of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, with final work on the ship’s self-destruct system, data reviews, and the receipt of an FAA license still to come before teams proceed into a countdown in South Texas.

SpaceX readying Starship rocket for around-the-world test flight next week

April 11, 2023 Stephen Clark

SpaceX said Tuesday it won’t perform a final countdown dress rehearsal this week for the giant new Starship launch vehicle, and could send the rocket — standing nearly 40 stories tall on its Texas launch pad — on an around-the-world test flight as soon as next week.

SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster

February 9, 2023 Stephen Clark

In a significant milestone preparing for liftoff of the world’s most powerful rocket, SpaceX test-fired 31 of the booster’s 33 methane-fueled engines Thursday in South Texas as the company eyes a launch attempt as soon as March.