SpaceX Launches 5000-tonn 3rd Starship Test Flight; Elon Musk Reacts
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has successfully launched the third test flight of Starship today from the Starbase launch site near Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast of Texas near Brownsville.
The massive 400-foot-tall Starship vehicle is being developed by SpaceX to transport astronauts to the Moon for NASA, with the long-term goal of potentially enabling human missions to Mars. Elon Musk reacted to the spaceflight while taking his X (formerly Twitter) account, “Starship reached orbital velocity! Congratulations SpaceX.” He further claimed that at around 5000 tons, the Starship is the largest flying object ever made.
Why SpaceX’s Starship is important? Starship is a crucial component of NASA’s Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon this decade. A version of Starship will serve as the lunar landing craft, transporting the crew from lunar orbit to the surface and back. NASA has targeted late 2026 for the next crewed lunar landing mission.
Third Starship Test Flight Aim
The latest third flight test aimed to achieve several ambitious goals, building on lessons from previous flights. These include a successful ascent of both stages, opening and closing the Starship’s payload door, demonstrating propellant transfer during the upper stage coast, relighting a Raptor engine in space for the first time, and a controlled Starship reentry. The new flight path allows SpaceX to attempt these new techniques while prioritising public safety.
