Watch Elon Musk's SpaceX test the most powerful rocket system ever built
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Kate DuffyFeb 10, 2023, 17:13 IST
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster on the launchpad at the Starbase facility. Elon Musk said 31 out of 33 engines fired.SpaceX livestream/Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Elon Musk's SpaceX fired up 33 engines on its Super Heavy booster for its Starship system.
Musk said 31 out of 33 engines fired, but it was still enough to take Starship to orbit.
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SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace firm, on Thursday conducted a static test fire of the rocket booster of its massive Starship system.
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
The test fire takes SpaceX one step closer to launching Starship, the most powerful rocket system ever built, into orbit for the first time. Musk eventually wants Starship to take humanity to Mars.
A drone photo of SpaceX's emerging Starship rocket complex taken in January 2019.RGV Aerial Photography
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The Super Heavy booster, designed to heave the Starship rocket into orbit, was strapped to framework on a launch pad at the company's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Starship wasn't attached to the booster for the static fire.
SpaceX livestream
SpaceX said it planned to fire up the 33 Raptor engines on the powerful booster.
The engines started to blast at around 4:14 p.m. ET. The firing only lasted for a few seconds, according to SpaceX's livestream.
SpaceX livestream
The smoke quickly spread over the launchpad during the static fire.
SpaceX livestream
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"Team turned off 1 engine just before start & 1 stopped itself, so 31 engines fired overall. But still enough engines to reach orbit!" Musk tweeted after the test.
Elon Musk.Adrees Latif/Reuters
SpaceX said in a tweet the engines fired for the "full duration," meaning they lasted for the correct amount of time.
SpaceX livestream
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Musk said on Saturday that Starship could launch next month "if remaining tests go well." SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said on Wednesday that if the static test was successful, Starship could launch in the next month, per CNBC.
NASA has chosen SpaceX's Starship to land the first astronauts on the moon since 1972. Musk wants to go further and use the rocket system to take people to Mars so they can build a settlement there.
SpaceX initially struggled to get four Starship prototypes off the ground without exploding or crashing to Earth. The fifth Starship prototype landed in one piece, meaning the company could start testing the Super Heavy booster.
Four earlier prototypes of Starship exploded when SpaceX launched them (left), but the fifth one stuck the landing (right).SPadre.com/SpaceX
SpaceX says Starship "will be the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed." The 120-meter-tall rocket system is taller than NASA's Saturn V and Space Launch System, and is expected to be able to carry up to 250 tons to orbit.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk next to SpaceX's first orbital Starship SN20.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
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