8/31/2023 0 Comments Next space rebels stunt rocketThe test flight set the record for the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown-at 394 feet (120 meters) tall with some 15 million pounds of thrust from its methane-fueled Raptor engines. SpaceX officials were pleased with the outcome of the first full Starship test flight on April 20, which reached an altitude of about 24 miles (38 kilometers) before tumbling out of control after multiple engine failures and the loss of the rocket’s steering system. SpaceX’s long-term goal is to replace its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon crew capsule with the privately funded Starship vehicle. The Starship vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, and SpaceX plans to use it for hauling satellites into orbit, constructing refueling tankers and propellant depots, and eventually transporting cargo and crew to the Moon and Mars. “That’s just the best of our knowledge right now,” Musk said. He said the next Starship rocket and upgrades to the launch pad at the Starbase facility in South Texas should be ready for the next test flight in about six weeks. Musk outlined some of the Starship rocket modifications in a Twitter Spaces discussion on Saturday with journalist Ashlee Vance. It depends on how well we do at stage separation.” “So I think the probability of this next flight working, getting to orbit, is much higher than the last one. “There are really a tremendous number of changes between the last Starship flight and this one, well over a thousand,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO. Those upgrades include a major change in how the rocket’s two stages separate, propulsion system improvements, and a beefed-up launch pad in South Texas that should better withstand the blast from 33 main engines. SpaceX will debut numerous upgrades on the second launch of its full-scale Starship mega-rocket.
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