Watch SpaceX's Starship soar in slow motion

 

Video Credit: Twitter (@@elonmusk)

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently shared a 23-second slow-motion video of Starship lifting off from Starbase on Twitter. The slow-motion footage shows the giant vehicle up close, with the powerful engines creating a massive plume of white smoke behind it.

The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars.

Starship will be capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes of cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO), the Moon, or Mars. It will also be capable of carrying up to 100 passengers on long-duration, interplanetary missions. One of the key advantages of the Starship spacecraft is its ability to be refuelled in low-Earth orbit before departing on interplanetary missions. By refuelling the spacecraft in low-Earth orbit before departing to Mars, SpaceX estimates that it will be able to transport up to 100 tons of cargo, including crew and supplies, all the way to the Red Planet.

On April 20, SpaceX conducted the highly anticipated first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and the Super Heavy rocket. Starship successfully lifted off from the orbital launch pad and climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, the flight did not go as planned and the vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the test, lost altitude, and began to tumble.

Nonetheless, the company's track record of innovation and success in space technology suggests that the next Starship test launch will likely be conducted soon.

"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship," SpaceX said in a statement.