As Falcon 9 rocket grounds, SpaceX test fires booster rocket for next Starship flight

It’s not clear how long SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will remain on the ground while engineers investigate a rare launch failure last week, but the next test flight of the company’s next-generation Starship spacecraft appears to be on track to lift off next month.

On Monday, SpaceX test-fired 33 Raptor engines on a Starship Super Heavy booster at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The methane-fueled engines fired for about eight seconds, long enough for SpaceX engineers to verify that all systems were operating normally. At full power, the 33 engines generated nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, twice the power output of NASA’s famous Saturn V rocket.

SpaceX confirmed that the static firing test had reached its full duration, and teams had drained methane and liquid oxygen from the rocket, known as Booster 12 in the company’s inventory of ships and boosters. The upper stage of the next Starship test flight, known as Ship 30, completed the static firing of its six Raptor engines in May.

During the fourth flight of Starship on June 6, SpaceX successfully guided the Super Heavy booster to a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico, east of Starbase. The spacecraft continued its journey in space and completed half a orbit around the planet before re-entering the atmosphere for a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean.

This was the first time SpaceX had successfully brought the rocket and vehicle close to their target landing sites. The rocket’s heavy water landing on target gave SpaceX officials the confidence to try to recover the rocket on the next flight in Starbase, where giant articulated arms — known as “chopsticks” — on the launch tower will try to hold the rocket as it slows down to hover over the launch pad.

SpaceX is still considering whether to try to recapture the rocket on its next flight, SpaceX general manager for Starship, Kathy Lueders, told locals last month. The recapture concept is a bold one and a far cry from the way SpaceX recovers Falcon 9 boosters, but SpaceX officials believe it’s the best way to quickly recover the boosters for reuse. Earlier this month, SpaceX released a teaser video of Starship’s next flight that suggested recapturing the rocket is back on the table.

Full duration steady fire of the Flight 5 heavy booster rocket. pic.twitter.com/8rF9KUdMUD

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 15, 2024

SpaceX will also use the fifth Starship test flight to test an upgraded heat shield on the upper stage, after overheating during reentry damaged the craft during landing on its previous flight last month. Inside a hangar a short drive from the launch pad, technicians are replacing thousands of ceramic tiles on the outer shell of the spacecraft.

Once that work is complete, SpaceX will place the vehicle atop the booster rocket, and may conduct a full countdown rehearsal a few days before the first launch attempt, which could happen as early as August.

Meanwhile, work is underway to build a second launch pad at Starbase. Construction crews have already stacked the first few sections of a lattice launch tower a short distance from the current Starship launch pad. Within two years, SpaceX aims to have two active launch pads in Texas and two Starship launch sites in Florida to support Starship’s increased flight rate.

These Starship missions will launch Starlink satellites to provide internet, conduct in-orbit refueling tests, and support NASA’s Artemis lunar program.