SpaceX rolls 7th Starship spacecraft out for testing ahead of next launch (photos)

We're getting closer to Starship launch number 7.

SpaceX's Starship upper stage stands ready for testing ahead of the megarocket's seventh launch. (Image credit: SpaceX)

 

The world's most powerful rocket is nearing its next test flight.

The seventh launch of SpaceX's Starship megarocket is expected within the next month or so. After a recent static fire of the vehicle's massive Super Heavy first-stage booster, the company has prepped the Starship upper stage for testing of its own.

"Starship ready for testing ahead of Flight 7," SpaceX said in a post on X on Wednesday (Dec. 11), sharing photos of the Starship vehicle on the move to its test stand at the company's Starbase facility in South Texas.

The Flight 7 Starship upper stage at SpaceX's Starbase facility. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has not announced a date for the upcoming integrated test flight (IFT), but an email from NASA to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration identifies Jan. 11as the likely target.

When the Starship upper stage is stacked atop Super Heavy, the integrated vehicle stands nearly 400 feet (122 meters) tall — bigger than any other rocket ever built. The upper stage, known as Ship, measures 165 feet (50 m) tall by itself.

Ship 7 on the move. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Starship is the first-ever fully reusable launch vehicle; both Super Heavy and Ship are designed to return to their launch sites to be caught mid-air by the Starship launch tower's "chopstick arms".

SpaceX first attempted to catch Super Heavy during IFT-5, which launched in October. That try succeeded; the chopsticks made a picture-perfect snag of the returning booster.

The company wanted to make another booster catch on IFT-6, which flew on Nov. 19. But communication issues with the tower scuttled that attempt, and Super Heavy instead diverted for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Starship upper stage stands about 165 feet (50 meters) tall. (Image credit: SpaceX)

IFT-7 will be SpaceX's first Starship launch of 2025. This year saw the launch of four Starship flights, spaced out over March, June, October and November, and doubling the number of Starship flights from 2023.

The number of Starship launches in 2025 is expected to increase again, as Starship checks off boxes toward operational qualification. SpaceX and NASA are eager for Starship's success, as the space agency has tapped the new SpaceX vehicle as the lunar lander for the upcoming Artemis 3 mission to put astronauts on the moon.

Quelle: SC