The gigantic uncrewed Starship is expected to do a partial lap of the Earth’s outer space and splash down near the coast of Hawaii|Official SpaceX Photos|CC BY-NC 2.0
SpaceX’s Starship is set to attempt its first test flight at 8 AM ET Monday morning at the company’s South Texas facility. But founder billionaire Elon Musk is setting his “expectations low.”
“If we get far enough away from launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the pad,” said the SpaceX CEO during a Twitter Spaces event Sunday.
Starship is almost 120 meters tall, with double the thrust power of any rocket in history. Instead of titanium or aluminum, it is made of stainless steel.
The space shuttle is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. Instead of hydrogen, it has 33 Raptor engines on the bottom of the methane-fuelled booster.
The gigantic uncrewed spaceship is expected to do a partial lap of the Earth’s outer space and splash down near the coast of Hawaii.
The launch of Starship will stream live on SpaceX’s YouTube channel.