SpaceX on Wednesday shared three official photos of its Starship prototype, Ship 24 on its way to the pad at Starbase, ahead of its first orbital test flight. Starbase is SpaceX’s test facility in south Texas.
“Ship 24 was transported to the pad at Starbase in preparation for the first orbital flight test of Starship,” said SpaceX on Twitter.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) announced it had given the environmental green light for SpaceX to test the first orbital flight of Starship, pending a small list of required changes.
Starship consists of a massive first-stage booster known as Super Heavy, plus its spacecraft that sits on top known as Starship that is 165 feet tall (50 meters). In the image above, we see the Super Heavy known as Booster 7, in anticipation of the orbital flight.
“SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit,” explains the company’s website.
Back in June, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Starship would be ‘ready to fly’ this month, with a second Starship ready for August.
