SpaceX
Booster 11 prepared for static fire test before Starship Flight 4
Earlier today SpaceX rolled out the Super Heavy Booster 11 rocket on the orbital launch pad at Starbase Texas to perform a static fire test.
Visuals coming from @NASASpaceFlight on social media site X confirmed the booster is now standing on top of the launch pad.
Super Heavy booster is the first stage of the Starship Integrated launch vehicle. It is powered by 33 Raptor engines with sub-cooled liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX). The booster generates 7,590 tf/16.7 Mlbf of thrust during liftoff.
The company has designed the first stage to send the Starship into the upper atmosphere and land back on the launch pad. During the third flight test, the booster successfully separated from the Starship but it could not land as planned.
Booster 11 on the orbital launch mount this morning. It looks sooo gooood. 🔥🚀🔥https://t.co/gdKx3F7ngB
@NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/r0mPinKDy5
— Mary (@BocaChicaGal) April 4, 2024
The objective of the test flight 4 would be to land the Super Heavy after performing its landing burn.
On March 14, SpaceX launched its third Starship flight test and met numerous milestones. That includes a stage separation, full engine burn for the Starship spacecraft, and completed on-orbit objectives. However, the mission failed to conduct the landing of the Starship’s second stage.
Within two weeks of this launch, the company started preparing for the fourth flight and performed the static fire test on the Starship spacecraft later in March.
The next launch date for the Starship Test Flight 4 is currently unknown but it would depend on how much time the Federal Aviation Administration would take to assess the third flight results.