BROWNSVILLE, RGV - On July 25 at about 10:45 Eastern time SpaceX’s Starhopper flew untethered for the first time at the SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica beach, in South Texas.
After a couple of successful tethered tests in the previous weeks, the shackles were removed and Starhopper lifted off in a plume of fire and smoke.
It was difficult to see the Starhopper in the smoke and fire however you could make out the vehicle as it rose, shifted to one side, and settled back to earth successfully.
There were multiple live streams available to view the historic event and in one of the chat rooms someone had made the joke that it looked like a water tower.
After the test was complete Elon Musk tweeted, ‘Starhopper test successful, water towers *can* fly haha!!” I guess Musk must have been monitoring some of the livestreams and chat rooms. When asked, “What's next?”, Musk tweeted that sometime in the next few weeks there would be a test hop to 200 meters.
We have reported on the Starhopper several times. Just what is the Starhopper? It is a test vehicle to test the newly developed Raptor engine which SpaceX intends to use as its primary engine(s) on the future Starship and Super Heavy.
The Starship and Super Heavy are the two stages that make up the vehicle intended to be used for lifting freight and people into space. The Super Heavy is the first stage and the Starship will ride atop the Super Heavy during the first stage of the flight. The Super Heavy will have at least 35 of the Raptor Engines and room for more.
The total number of engines has varied with each update released by Musk. Upon separation, the Starship will continue up to orbit or to trans orbital injection, or in other words it will break free of Earth's gravity and begin a journey to its destination.
The Starship is currently designed to use 7 Raptor engines however this, also, has changed along the design timeline. Originally designed for 3 Raptor engines but now designed for 7. The Starship is the section that will carry the passengers or payload to the destination, be it the International Space Station, the Moon, Mars, or beyond.
Both the Super Heavy and the Starship are designed to be reusable and will return to Earth to an upright landing much like the boosters from the current payload lifter being used by SpaceX, the Falcon 9.
It has been heard repeatedly across social media that the SpaceX program begins a new Era in space travel.
We will continue to follow the SpaceX story and the reported upcoming test hop of the Starhopper to 200 meters in the coming weeks.
