SpaceX, the private product company of billionaire Elon Musk, published on Thursday photos of the Starship spacecraft at the company’s base in Texas, United States. The spacecraft is expected to make its maiden flight to test its capabilities in a few weeks.
“The team is beginning a series of tests ahead of Starship’s first test flight in the coming weeks,” SpaceX said on Twitter.
The Starship is one of the most anticipated rockets of 2023. At least for now, it will be used to send astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis 3 mission. SpaceX will also be used for the Starship on Artemis 4, another mission that will take astronauts to the natural satellite. from the earth.
However, before that, Elon Musk’s company must demonstrate the safety and capacity of the new spacecraft. Flight tests in Earth orbit, scheduled for the coming weeks, are part of this validation.
The ship is fully reusable and has a large cargo-carrying capacity; The goal is to transport more than 100 tons to places like the Moon or Mars.
If the rocket proves that it truly lives up to the hype, it will become the most powerful spacecraft in operation, surpassing NASA’s SLS.
In December 2022, SpaceX released the names of the people who will be aboard the Starship on the Dearmoon mission, the first private human-based flight into lunar orbit by rocket. The project is financed by the Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa. And he has chosen, among millions of interested parties, ten people who will accompany him in this search.
In total, Maezawa and the rest of the crew will spend a week aboard the spacecraft, including the journey across the lunar surface and back to Earth.
