The largest rocket system ever built in space history will complete its fourth test flight today. A 120-minute launch window will open at 2 p.m. CET, the American space company SpaceX, owned by technology billionaire Elon Musk, announced.
The unmanned ‘Starship’ is expected to take off from the SpaceX spaceport in the US state of Texas. A test flight of about an hour and controlled landings of the two rocket stages are planned. NASA wants to take astronauts to the moon with the ‘Starship’, and SpaceX hopes to one day go to Mars.
Exploded during the first two test flights
In April last year, the entire missile system exploded after just a few minutes during an initial test. During a second test in November, the two rocket stages separated and the upper one continued to fly for a while, but both exploded shortly afterwards.
During the third test flight in March, the “Starship” reached space for the first time, but was also unable to complete the flight as hoped. The rocket system is designed so that the spacecraft and launch vehicle can be reused after return to Earth.
The “Starship” consists of the approximately 70 meter long “Super Heavy” booster and the approximately 50 meter long upper stage, also called “Starship”. It is approximately 120 meters long in total and will be able to transport more than 100 tons of cargo in the future.
Source: Krone
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