November 18, 2023

Super Heavy Booster 8 and Starship 25 blasting off (Image courtesy SpaceX)

SpaceX conducted a new flight test of its Super Heavy rocket and Starship prototypes, launched from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This is the second test involving the entire system of Elon Musk’s company which is supposed to revolutionize space travel with an unprecedented transport capacity and being totally reusable. In this case, however, they are prototypes with the Super Heavy identified as Booster 9 and the Starship identified as Starship 25 or Ship25 or simply S25. Despite the upgrades, they don’t have the safety requirements required to conduct controlled landings. After the first test conducted on April 20, many changes were made to the Super Heavy and Starship systems but also to the launch pad.