Follow live updates about SpaceX Starship’s seventh test flight.
CNN
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SpaceX’s massive Starship launch system has lifted off on its seventh uncrewed test flight, as an upgraded version of the mega-rocket embarks on the program’s most ambitious flight to date.
The Starship spacecraft, stacked atop a Super Heavy rocket booster, took flight Thursday at 5:37 p.m. ET (4:37 p.m. local time). The rocket booster revved up 33 engines at its base, sending a loud roar into Starbase, the SpaceX launch site near Brownsville, Texas.
For the first time, one of these 33 Raptor engines has been to space before. SpaceX said it is reusing an engine recovered from a Super Heavy booster that flew during the company’s fifth test flight in October.
Then, when the Super Heavy rocket booster (the bottom, or first stage, of the Starship system) burns off most of its fuel, Space I guided him to land. .
The Starship spacecraft ignited its own engine and began flying through space.
The company steered its super-heavy booster straight toward the “chopstick,” the metal arm of the “mechazilla.” This is the name of SpaceX’s launch tower, which also serves as a structural mechanism to catch rocket parts as they burst out of the sky after liftoff. launch.
SpaceX has previously successfully retrieved a superheavy booster only once after launch, during the fifth fully integrated Starship test flight in October 2024.
The operation sent a deafening sonic boom through the landing site just off South Padre Island, a popular tourist destination in Texas.
While Super Heavy proceeded with its landing attempt, the Starship spacecraft, or upper stage, continued to propel itself through space and was expected to reach nearly enough speed to enter Earth’s orbit.
However, the Starship spacecraft has stopped transmitting telemetry, suggesting that the spacecraft may have been lost.
“We expected the ship’s engines to shut down about 40 seconds ago,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Fott said on a livestream. “Prior to that point, we observed some of those engines begin to shut down, and we are now standing by to get an update on what situation we are in. I’m just there.”
SpaceX said the “new generation” Starship it will fly on Thursday’s mission has several significant upgrades from previous versions. The changes include additional fuel capacity, which could allow Starship’s engines to burn longer and generate more speed.
The vehicle will have a more powerful flight computer, improved navigation, and a new antenna that SpaceX hopes will allow Starship to better communicate with Starlink, the company’s space-based Internet network. is also equipped.
Importantly, SpaceX is testing for the first time how its Starship vehicle will deploy satellites. The spacecraft carries 10 dummy payloads, roughly the same size and weight as SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink satellites.
About 17 minutes into the mission, SpaceX will deploy a mock satellite as part of a demonstration. Like Starship, the demo payload is not scheduled to reach orbit. Rather, it is certain that it will follow a similar trajectory to the Starship and be disposed of at sea.
About an hour after takeoff, the Starship spacecraft is expected to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The maneuver is expected to test how Starship will be recovered after future flights. However, as in the past few test missions, the vehicle was scrapped and left in a watery grave.
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