SpaceX has released a drone video of the process of installing Starship Ship 24 on the first stage of the Super Heavy Booster 7.
While a launch date for this bundle has yet to be announced, a test flight is expected sometime in March. We will remind, SpaceX Starship has not flown for almost 2 years, and Super Heavy has not flown even once. Should be interesting.
Ship 24 stacked on Super Heavy Booster 7 at Starbase in Texas pic.twitter.com/hLcghfq349
Ship 24 stacked on Super Heavy Booster 7 at Starbase in Texas pic.twitter.com/hLcghfq349
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 10, 2023Starship Ship 24 is actually SpaceX's twenty-sixth superheavy spacecraft prototype. It was first spotted at the Boca Chica Spaceport back in November 2021, and on August 9, 2022, Ship 24 passed a static fire test and is ready for orbital launch.
Super Heavy Booster 7 is already the fifth prototype of the super-heavy first stage Starship. It was first seen on September 29, 2021, and passed a static fire test on August 9, 2022.
The next stage of testing is hydraulic testing, during which the launch pad must withstand the weight of a fully fueled Starship and Super Heavy, which is almost 5,000 tons.
In general, January 2023 is very busy at SpaceX. The company currently has four rockets ready for launch at four different launch sites – two Falcon 9s are ready for launch, the Falcon Heavy just rolled out of the hangar plus the aforementioned Ship 24 plus the Super Heavy Booster 7 at Boca Chica. In addition, there are two Dragon ships in space at once, cargo CRS-26 and passenger Crew-5 Dragon.
Since the beginning of 2023, SpaceX has already carried out 2 launches, 9 more are planned by the end of January. Not bad, Elon Musk, after all, it is better to be involved in space than to get involved in politics.