Starship : SpaceX’s
SpaceX’s Starship rocket accomplished its first fully successful test flight last week, with both its booster and spacecraft making a gentle splashdown after an hour-long sub-orbital space flight.
- SpaceX’s Starship is an ambitious spacecraft designed to be fully reusable for missions to various destinations in space, including Mars.
- It is part of a two-stage-to-orbit launch system composed of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft itself:
- Super Heavy Booster: The first stage, responsible for lifting Starship out of Earth’s atmosphere.
- Starship Spacecraft: The second stage, designed for space travel, including carrying crew and cargo.
- Both stages are designed to be fully reusable, aiming to significantly reduce the cost of space travel.
- Capacity: Crew: Can carry up to 100 passengers.
- Cargo: Large payload capacity, with different configurations for various missions.
- Engines: Powered by Raptor engines, which use liquid methane and liquid oxygen (Methalox) as propellants.
