Starship’s First Orbital Launch Is Happening Imminently
But the stakes are immense!
Brace yourselves. It’s finally happening. Right now in Texas, SpaceX is preparing Starship and its Super Heavy Booster for their first orbital launch. Musk has even tweeted that it could happen as soon as the end of February or early March. This era-defining mega-rocket has embarrassed NASA, shocked the world, and is currently poised to dominate the space industry. But that is far from a certainty. There is a lot at stake here for SpaceX.
Let’s quickly recap just how insane Starship is. Starship is the world’s first fully reusable rocket. This technology was developed by SpaceX’s old faithful Falcon 9 rocket, which is only capable of reusing its booster because its main stage burns up on reentry. Meanwhile, Starship’s booster (known as the Super Heavy Booster) and its main stage (Starship itself) can land safely back on Earth or any other celestial body using retrorockets and then be relaunched.
However, Starship is also the largest rocket ever built. It can deliver a massive 150+ tonnes to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and even 100 tonnes to the Martian surface. To do this, it produces a bonkers 7.25 million kg of thrust on liftoff, which is almost twice as much as NASA’s mega SLS rocket.
