Elon Musk's Starship launched from Texas: flight over Earth is normal

The launch program includes a test of the payload hatch

Starship, the most powerful steel starship for delivering passengers and cargo, set off on March 14 for its third test flight. It launched at 16:20 Moscow time into low-Earth orbit using a Super Heavy launch vehicle from the Starbase cosmodrome in Texas.

Photo: Still from video

This flight, unlike the first two that SpaceX launched in 2023, will follow a new trajectory: instead of the Quiet Starship, it will fall into the Indian ocean. This new trajectory will allow new technologies such as igniting engines to be tested in space. The program of the third orbital flight is also planned to include tests of the payload hatch, demonstration of internal fuel transfer and restart of the Raptor engine in space.

Recall that Starship is a ship that, like Noah’s Ark, will be able to load on board very there are many (compared to current spacecraft) representatives of humanity — 100 cosmonauts at once. True, unlike Noah, Musk is not going to stop on one flight; he intends to organize shuttle flights on the route Earth — Mars and back.

At the time of writing, the ship flew for about half an hour at an altitude of about 200 km above the Earth . Around 17:00 Moscow time the spacecraft is expected to deorbit and splash down in the ocean.