Earlier this week, SpaceX ignited the engines of its Super Heavy booster in preparation for the upcoming integrated test flight (IFT) of Starship, scheduled for the next few weeks. This IFT-5 will be the fifth launch of the fully loaded Starship spacecraft and promises to be the most ambitious one yet.
On July 9th, the 71-meter booster was placed on the launch pad at SpaceX’s testing facility in Texas. During Monday’s full-duration static fire test, the booster’s 33 Raptor engines were ignited at full power for about 20 seconds, an event that SpaceX shared on Twitter.
Each of the four Starship test flights has surpassed the previous one. The most recent launch, which took place in June, was a complete success. On that occasion, Starship and its Super Heavy booster landed in a controlled manner in the ocean. Now, SpaceX hopes to surpass that achievement on the fifth flight.
Starship is designed as a fully reusable system. Super Heavy, similar to the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, includes grid fins to control its reentry into the atmosphere. However, unlike the Falcon 9, the plan is for Super Heavy to return directly to the launch platform.
The Starship launch tower, called “Mechazilla”, has two enormous mechanical arms designed to catch the Super Heavy by its grid fins while it stops its thrust in the air. This will facilitate the quick refurbishment of the booster for future launches.
Although Super Heavy landed in the ocean on its fourth flight, SpaceX took the opportunity to test the synchronization and capabilities of the launch tower. Now, the company plans to test the system in a real landing. “We intend to test this by the end of July!” Musk commented on Twitter after the success of IFT-4.
Regarding the date of the next launch, Musk mentioned on July 5th that it would be “four weeks” away, placing the possible launch around August 2nd at best.
Source: Space.com
