Rocket builders must perform several static launch tests of their boosters before they can send them into space for the first time, and SpaceX is no exception to the rule. Elon Musk’s company has just tested the engines of its next-generation Starship spacecraft, which will sit atop the mighty Super Heavy rocket for its first orbital flight in the coming months.
Starship: SpaceX unveils drone video of an engine test
While most engine test videos often show the ship from the side, SpaceX decided to do things a little differently by positioning a camera directly above the ship.
The video shows the Starship in train start its engine for about six seconds at its Starbase facility in Texas. We assume the camera was attached to a drone flying overhead, although SpaceX did not confirm this in its tweet sharing the video.
To read: Spaceship: explosion of Super Heavy booster during a test, the first orbital flight delayed?
The Super Heavy will take off for its first test flight in the coming months. It will be the most powerful rocket ever launched. With £17 million pushthat’s more than double the Saturn V rocket that launched American astronauts to the moon five decades ago, and far more than the 8.8 million pounds of thrust displayed by NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket .
The Super Heavy and Starship, collectively known as Starship, will be used by NASA for transport astronauts and supplies to the Moon. They could even be deployed for the first manned mission to Mars, possibly in the 2030s.