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05. April 2025
Spacex Fires On All Cylinders As Starship Super Heavy Booster Completes Groundbreaking Static Fire Test
SpaceX, the innovative space exploration company, has taken a significant step towards reusing its Starship’s Super Heavy Booster, marking a major milestone in the development of this massive rocket. The recent static fire test at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in South Texas, where the company is making remarkable progress with the rocket’s enormous booster, has brought the booster closer to flight readiness than any of its factory counterparts.
The most visible sign of SpaceX’s progress came at 9:40 am local time (10:40 am EDT; 14:40 UTC) on Thursday, when the company fired up a Super Heavy Booster that had previously reached the edge of space. The burn lasted approximately eight seconds, a testament to the impressive capabilities of this rocket. This was the first time SpaceX has test-fired a “flight-proven” Super Heavy Booster, and it paves the way for a reflight of Booster 14 on the next Starship launch.
The success of Thursday’s static fire test is a significant achievement for SpaceX, as it marks the company’s efforts to overcome challenges with the rocket’s upper stage, known simply as the ship. The reusable nature of the Super Heavy Booster has been a long-sought goal for SpaceX, and this milestone brings the company closer to achieving zero-touch reflight.
The Super Heavy Booster is an impressive feat of engineering, designed to produce nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, twice the power of NASA’s Saturn V rocket that sent astronauts to the Moon. Its massive size can be measured by comparing it to a Boeing 747 jumbo jet standing on end. The booster is part of the Starship program, which has been plagued by issues with the upper stage.
Despite these challenges, SpaceX has made significant progress in developing and testing the Super Heavy Booster. The company has launched eight full-scale test flights of Starship, with a Super Heavy Booster and Starship’s upper stage stacked together to form a rocket that towers 404 feet (123.1 meters) tall. The booster portion of the rocket has performed well so far, with seven consecutive successful launches since a failure on Starship’s debut flight.
Most recently, SpaceX has recovered three Super Heavy Boosters in four attempts, demonstrating the company’s ability to reuse and refurbish its rockets. This experience has been built on the success of the Falcon 9 program, which has seen numerous reuses of booster rockets. The total number of Falcon rocket landings is now 426.
The journey to the first reusable Falcon 9 began in March 2017, when SpaceX reused a booster for an operational flight with a communications satellite on a mission valued at several hundred million dollars. To achieve this milestone, SpaceX spent nearly a year refurbishing and retesting the rocket after it returned from its first mission. The rocket racked up more mileage on the ground than it did in flight, first returning to its Florida launch base on a SpaceX drone ship and then moving by truck to SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, for thorough inspections and refurbishment.
Once engineers finished that work, they transported the booster to SpaceX’s test site in McGregor, Texas, for test-firings, and finally returned the rocket to Florida for final launch preparations. In contrast, the Super Heavy Booster will undergo less extensive refurbishment due to its larger size and improved design features informed by lessons learned from the Falcon 9 program.
The successful reflight of the Super Heavy Booster would be an important milestone for the Starship program, marking a significant step towards achieving zero-touch reflight. With this progress, SpaceX is poised to make history in the space exploration industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible with reusable rockets.
As the Starship program continues to evolve, SpaceX’s efforts to develop and test the Super Heavy Booster are crucial to its success. The company’s commitment to innovation and perseverance has led to significant breakthroughs, and this latest milestone demonstrates its dedication to making space travel more accessible and sustainable.
The reusable nature of the Super Heavy Booster has the potential to revolutionize the space industry, reducing the cost and complexity of space missions. By reusing rockets, SpaceX can significantly reduce the environmental impact of space exploration, as well as lower the costs associated with launching payloads into space.
With the Super Heavy Booster nearing flight readiness, SpaceX is one step closer to achieving its ambitious goals for the Starship program. The company’s next steps will likely focus on integrating the reusable booster with its Starship spacecraft, which will be used to transport both crew and cargo to destinations in Earth’s orbit and beyond. As the company continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, it’s clear that SpaceX is committed to making a lasting impact on the world of space exploration.
The long-term implications of the Super Heavy Booster are significant, with the potential to open up new opportunities for space travel and exploration. By harnessing the power of reusable rockets, SpaceX can make space more accessible to a wider range of customers, from satellite operators to deep space missions. As the company looks to the future, it’s clear that the Super Heavy Booster is just one piece of a larger puzzle – a puzzle that will shape the future of space exploration for generations to come.