On Monday, the SpaceX launch team loaded more than 11 million pounds (more than 5,000 metric tons) of super-cold methane and liquid oxygen into both stages of the rocket after halting an earlier fueling attempt Saturday night due to a technical issue. The launch rehearsal followed a test firing of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines at the launch site on May 6, the first time SpaceX fired a full complement of upgraded Raptor 3s.
At liftoff, the rocket is expected to produce about 18 million pounds of thrust, about 10 percent more than the previous generation of Super Heavy boosters, according to specifications previously released by SpaceX. The scale is astonishing. For example, in version 3, the internal transfer tube that channels methane fuel from the top of the booster to the engine bay is about the same size as the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which is about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter.
The upcoming flight will also mark the first liftoff from a new launch pad at Starbase, about 300 meters (1,000 feet) west of the departure point of all previous SpaceX test flights. This will be Starship’s 12th full-scale test flight and the first since last October, after delays in preparing the V3 for its first launch.
Like most previous Starship flights, the rocket’s upper stage will aim for a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean just over an hour into the mission. On future Starship V3 flights, SpaceX will attempt to fly the ship back to Starbase to catch it with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, as the company has already demonstrated with the rocket’s massive Super Heavy booster.
One change SpaceX is making to this launch is a more southerly flight path over the Gulf of Mexico, taking the rocket between the northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the western tip of Cuba, rather than over the Straits of Florida.
What’s left before Starship V3 is ready to fly? On SpaceX’s side, workers must install hardware for the rocket’s self-destruct system, pyrotechnics that would blow up the vehicle if it deviates from its flight plan. This will require removing the boat from the propeller. A launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration is still pending.
