Photo: NASASpaceflight
As SpaceX prepares for its first orbital flight with the reusable Starship rocket, the company is conducting its first full-stack tests of the rocket to prepare for upcoming orbital flight.
These full-stack tests of the Starship rocket on Monday, as can be seen in a livestream of the tests on the YouTube channel NASASpaceflight (via @Michael Baylor). SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “liked” Baylor’s tweet on Monday, giving credence to what may happen.
Baylor also said in the thread that it would be likely for SpaceX to conduct some kind of propellant loading test, with either an actual propellant or LN2.
At the time of writing, the livestream still displays “potential” S24/B7 full-stack testing, so it’s not entirely clear if the company will conduct any testing with the Starship fully stacked.
SpaceX is set to conduct full-stack and/or Ship 25 testing in Starbase today. Road closure is confirmed a go by the county website.https://t.co/9tCZafcbaB pic.twitter.com/4olsu0lf7X
— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) October 24, 2022
The surrounding roads at Starship in Boca Chica, Texas have been closed off and will remain so until 8:00 p.m. CT, according to the county website. The testing is taking place at the site’s S25 launchpad A.
The news comes after Starship’s first launch has been delayed multiple times. While it isn’t yet clear when the rocket will be able to be launched for the first time, SpaceX head Elon Musk said last month that a launch of Starship in November was “highly likely.”
You can watch SpaceX’s full-stack tests of Starship at Starbase in Cameron County, Texas below, complete with the rocket being brought out to the launch pad and the full stack being assembled.
