SpaceX, lead by Elon Musk, has reassembled the world’s largest rocket in preparation for a highly anticipated update on the company’s Starship programme in South Texas.
Musk showed off new images of the Starship rocket as it was mated to its enormous Super Heavy booster at the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in a series of Twitter posts late Wednesday and today (Feb. 9 and 10). The combined height of the Starship and Super Heavy is 395 feet (120 m). This is about 30 feet (9 metres) higher than NASA’s huge Saturn V moon rocket.
Musk left the photographs up overnight without comment, presumably to let the enormity of the sight to settle in before giving a major update on SpaceX’s Starship programme tonight. Beginning around 9 p.m. EST, SpaceX is expected to livestream the Starship update, which you can watch here if it’s available (0200 GMT).
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2022
The Starship is a 165-foot (50-meter) tall stainless-steel rocket meant to carry astronauts on deep-space expeditions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA has chosen Starship to place its Artemis crew on the moon in 2025 or so, while SpaceX has already sold one lunar voyage to Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
The gigantic rocket will be launched from the company’s Starbase facility utilising Super Heavy, a giant rocket that reaches 230 feet (70 metres) tall.
The Starship on SpaceX’s test pad is known as SN20, and it is the company’s 20th Starship prototype. Booster 4 is the name for the Super Heavy. SpaceX plans to launch its maiden orbital Starship trip this year using the stacked rockets.
It’s unclear when that orbital Starship voyage will take place, though Musk may reveal some details at his presentation tonight. SpaceX’s Starship launches from Starbase are now undergoing an environmental review by the Federal Aviation Administration. On Feb. 28, that evaluation, which must be completed before any orbital launch, is likely to be completed.
SN20 and Booster 4 had already been fully constructed previously, in August 2021, when SpaceX reportedly intended to practise stacking at Starbase.
