Elon Musk‘s SpaceX conducted the static fire test on the Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 on Sunday, weeks after rolling it out onto Starbase for testing.
What Happened: SpaceX shared videos of the super heavy static fire on Sunday wherein it fired up its 33 raptor engines while staying put on the launchpad.
However, four of the engines shut down prematurely during the test.
The rocket manufacturing company rolled out booster 9 to the orbital launch pad at Starbase late last month for testing ahead of the flight. Last week, it completed a flight-like chill and spin of the engine pumps.
Why It Matters: SpaceX conducted the first test launch of Starship on April 20. The rocket exploded in less than four minutes after take-off.
Starship, composed of the super heavy rocket and the starship spacecraft, aims to create a fully reusable transportation system for crew and cargo missions to Earth’s orbit, the Moon and Mars.
Late in June, SpaceX said that Ship 25, the spacecraft prototype that will make the second flight test, has completed a six-engine static fire test at Starbase; a key milestone before the second test flight.
In a discussion with journalist Ashlee Vance in late June, Musk said that significant changes have been made since the first test flight and he now estimates a 60% probability for the next flight to reach orbit, contingent on the success of stage separation. He then predicted the second flight test to occur in six weeks. If the timeline were to remain unchanged, Starship’s second test flight will occur this month.
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