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SpaceX launched its most recent Starship prototype for the second time, thus continuing the preparation for a test flight of the vehicle.
Starship SN10 ignited its three Raptor Engines for a few seconds today (February 25) at 5:57 p.m. EST (2257 GMT) in a “static fire” test at SpaceX’s South Texas site near the village of Boca Chica on the state’s Gulf Coast .
SN10’s first static light, which happened on Tuesday (February 23), apparently revealed an issue with one of the vehicle’s Raptors. SpaceX quickly exchanged engine and prepared SN10 for another static fire, a joint pre-flight check of the company’s rockets.
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STATIC FIRE! SN10 starship fires all three engines after record Raptor change. The big question is whether this was a good test. If so, the launch could be in a few days. Mary (@BocaChicaGal) and the bots seen: ➡️https: //t.co/njq1OHR4VB pic.twitter.com/zz0z6MWJVD25 February 2021
If all goes well today, the SN10 (“Serial No. 10”) could start very soon, maybe in the next few days. The vehicle will fly approximately 6 miles in the South Texas skies, a high-altitude jaunt similar to the three-engine prototypes SN8 and SN9 on December 9 and February 2, respectively.
These two flights went well until the very end. SN8 and SN9 hit their target landing zones but did not survive the hit, exploding into huge balls of fire.
SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and goods to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The system consists of two fully reusable parts: a 165-foot-tall (50-meter) spacecraft called the Starship, and a huge rocket known as the Super Heavy.
The final starship will have six Raptors, and Super Heavy will be powered by around 30 of the engines, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said.
The final and operational spacecraft could fly soon, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX hopes to launch a prototype into orbit this year, and Musk recently said he believes the system will be steal people regularly by 2023.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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