SpaceX today conducted the third Starship test flight from Texas and Blue Origin, a competitor from the space exploration industry, congratulated the company on the mission.
“Congrats to the SpaceX team,” wrote Blue Origin beneath the SpaceX post on social media site X on Thursday.
Blue Origin Congratulates SpaceX on Third Starship Flight Test (Image Credit: X/Twitter)
SpaceX’s latest Starship launch test achieved new milestones compared to the past two flights. The integrated flight cleared the launch pad with its 33 raptor engines, performed hot-staging and stage maneuvers, and took the second stage into orbit.
Starship remains in orbit for more than 30 minutes before descending into Earth’s atmosphere. During orbit, the company demonstrated in-orbit propellant transfer and payload door opening/closing sequence.
Blue Origin’s congratulations come when the company is preparing the first flight for its heavy payload rocket “New Glenn“.
It rolled out the New Glenn vehicle at Launch Complex 36 (LC-46) for testing, verification, stability monitoring, and launch support system validation. The company is also testing its BE-4 rocket engine on another site.
The first stage of New Glenn uses 7 BE-4 engines. The vehicle is 98 meters tall and features a 7-meter payload fairing to fit approximately twice the volume of a standard 5-meter class commercial launch system.
Blue Origin aims for at least 25 missions with its reusable first stage and lands it on a sea-based platform located roughly 620 miles downrange.