by Rocket makers need to do a lot of static fire tests before sending their boosters into space for the first time.
This means securing the vehicle to the ground before starting one or more of its engines for seconds to several minutes.
SpaceX is testing the engines of its next-generation Starship spacecraft, which will sit atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket when it makes its first orbital flight in the coming months.
While most engine test videos show the vehicle from the side, SpaceX decided to do things a little differently this time by placing a camera directly above the Starship when it fired a single engine at its Starbase facility in Texas on Thursday for about six seconds. . And I’m sure you’ll agree, the footage is pretty awesome.
We assume the camera is attached to a drone flying overhead, but SpaceX does not confirm this in its tweet sharing the video.
To give you a little more perspective on what’s going on, here’s the same test from the usual angle.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk also posted some equally awesome footage a few months ago, showing the static fire test of seven of Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines.
When Super Heavy makes its first test flight in the coming months, it will be the most powerful rocket ever launched. At 17 million pounds of thrust, that’s more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V rocket that pushed American astronauts to the moon fifty years ago, and far more than the 8.8 million pounds of thrust exhibited by NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Artemis I made its maiden flight in November as part of the lunar mission.
The Super Heavy and Starship, collectively known as Starship, will be used by NASA to transport astronauts and supplies to the moon, and could possibly even be deployed for the first crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s.
But before these missions, SpaceX plans to use the Starship for the first civilian flight to the moon in the next few years. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has already bought all the seats and selected his fellow passengers for a week-long adventure that will include his spacecraft passing by our nearest neighbor before returning home.
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