Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to fly the first Starship V3 on Tuesday, May 19, the debut of a vehicle the company has rebuilt almost from scratch and the last major test before its expected IPO roadshow.
Liftoff is targeted for 6:30 p.m. EDT from a new pad at Starbase in South Texas. SpaceX has a 90-minute window to get the rocket off the ground before the attempt scrubs to another day.
V3 stands 124.4 meters tall, roughly 1.5 meters taller than its predecessor and the tallest rocket ever built. Both stages run on SpaceX’s new Raptor 3 engine, with the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3s generating over 18 million pounds of combined thrust at liftoff. That is more than twice the thrust of NASA’s Saturn V moon rocket.
A redesigned fuel transfer tube roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage allows all 33 engines to ignite simultaneously.
Fewer Fins, Hotter Stage
The booster has three grid fins rather …
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