Not long ago, SpaceX, Tesla founder Elon Musk’s space company, successfully launched its spacecraft: Starship. This was the first time the spacecraft took off, flew, and landed without problems – but now their plans have been expanded. According to Engadget, Musk and SpaceX are now planning a complete launch where the vessel will also orbit the earth before landing safely back on earth.
Before the aforementioned successful test, the vessel exploded spectacularly, in 14 different iterations, either on launch or landing. The latest variant of the vessel is thus a much more finished product than what we have previously seen.
It is also important since the plan is that in the future it will be used for space travel as well as for the space station ISS, as well as for potentially the moon and Mars. The new test will thus be the first step on the road to this, where the rocket will be released from the earth’s gravity and partly into space.
The plan is for Starship to take off from SpaceX’s facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, whereupon the first support rockets will fall off and land in the Gulf of Mexico three minutes after takeoff. The spacecraft itself will then fly over Florida and then go into orbit around the earth and fly for about 90 minutes. The entire trip will end northwest of the island of Kauai in the archipelago of Hawaii.
When Starship lands, it is scheduled to do so safely – and ready for a new trip later. After all, this is the whole point of SpaceX’s space investment, and what makes them different from other manufacturers: They make reusable rockets and spacecrafts.
In the past, most of what has been shot up in space has either ended up as space junk or burned up in the atmosphere on the way down，and has not been designed to be used more than once in any case. Starship will be a reusable vessel that can transport humans, potentially both globally, to the moon and to other planets.
