Published 13:13 IST, August 6th 2020
Elon Musk tweets 'Mars is looking real' as SpaceX completes test flight of Starship
Starship SN5 test vehicle can be seen taking off for about 40 seconds from the village of Boca Chica as Elon Musk said "Mars is looking real".
As SpaceX’s ‘Starship’ spacecraft successfully completed a test flight on August 4 taking off from a launchpad at a facility in South Texas, US, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Mars is looking real." The uncrewed test vehicle is a prototype of SpaceX's next-generation Starship that flew to an altitude of 150m (500ft). In a post shared by Martian Austin Barnard, the Starship SN5 test vehicle can be seen taking off for about 40 seconds from the village of Boca Chica, a major revolutionary event towards the exploration of the celestial body.
[Starship spacecraft built by SpaceX could land on the moon by 2024. Image by SpaceX]
At around 7:57 p.m. EDT (2357 GMT; 6:57 p.m. local Texas time), the SN5, SpaceX’s second Starship prototype, however, the first this year, took off the Earth for the Red Planet. Featuring a single Raptor, SpaceX's next-generation engine, the stainless-steel SN5 successfully launched without pressurization or engine-firing glitch, according to a report. However, Musk had earlier said that the final Starship vehicle will sport six Raptors, stand about 165 feet (50 m) tall and be capable of carrying up to 100 people, a report confirmed. In fact, SN5 was previously assumed to target a maximum altitude of about 500 feet (150 meters).
Delighted and hopeful at the launch
“Beginning of a new era,” Barnard post mentioned in the caption. Operational Starship would be capable enough to explore Mars and the moon simultaneously and will launch on a 31 Raptors SpaceX rocket, Super Heavy, as per reports. Internet was both delighted and hopeful at the launch and poured various reactions. “This is such a big day for space. Congrats to you and the hardworking SpaceX team. Make us Multiplanetary!!” a user wrote. “Can we all just take a moment to admire how beautiful the Raptor flame is,” said another.
Updated 13:13 IST, August 6th 2020