Starship even looks big from space.
SpaceX stacked its latest Starship vehicle on Tuesday (Sept. 5), lifting an upper-stage prototype called Ship 25 atop a primary stage variant often known as Booster 9 on the orbital launch mount at Starbase, the corporate’s site in South Texas.
That very same day, Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-1 satellite captured an incredible photo of the newly stacked rocket, which stands nearly 400 feet (122 meters) tall — and Maxar posted the shot on X (formerly often known as Twitter) for all of us to see.
Related: Relive SpaceX’s explosive 1st Starship test in incredible launch photos
As Maxar noted in that Thursday (Sept. 7) X post, the Ship 25-Booster 9 duo are being prepped for liftoff within the near future — the second ever for the Starship program.
The primary test flight of a totally stacked Starship occurred on April 20 from Starbase. It aimed to send the upper stage partway around Earth, culminating in a splashdown within the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. However the vehicle suffered several problems, including the failure of its two stages to separate as planned, and SpaceX beamed up a self-destruct command not long after launch.
The goals of the upcoming second flight will probably be much like those of the primary, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said. And he wants it to occur soon, stressing that Booster 9 and Ship 25 are able to launch at any time when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants a license.
The FAA remains to be reviewing the mishap report that SpaceX filed concerning the April 20 launch. That flight caused considerable damage to Starbase’s orbital launch mount and rained dirt, chunks of concrete and other debris down on the encircling area.
Starship is the largest and strongest launcher ever built, boasting nearly twice as much thrust at liftoff as NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket. Musk believes that the fully reusable Starship can revolutionize spaceflight, making settlement of the moon and Mars economically feasible.