See more gorgeous photos of SpaceX's Starship engine test

News
By Mike Wall
published

All 33 of the giant rocket's engines engaged during the Aug. 25 test.

flames erupt from the base of a shiny silver rocket, as seen from above, during an engine test
SpaceX's Booster 9 Starship Super Heavy prototype performs a static fire test on Aug. 25, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has given us a few more dramatic looks at last week's Starship engine test.

SpaceX fired up Booster 9 — the latest prototype of its Starship first stage, known as Super Heavy — on Friday (Aug. 25) at its Starbase facility in South Texas. All 33 of Booster 9's Raptor engines engaged during the static fire test, which lasted for about six seconds.

SpaceX livestreamed the trial, so we got to follow the action in real time. And on Monday (Aug. 28), the company posted two beauty shots on X (formerly Twitter), to further burn the static fire into our memories.

Related: Relive SpaceX's explosive 1st Starship test in incredible launch photos

Another look at Booster 9's static fire test on Aug. 25, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Friday's test was the second such ignition for Booster 9, following an Aug. 6 static fire, which also took place on Starbase's orbital launch mount.

Booster 9 did better this time; only 29 Raptors lit up during the first static fire. All 33 engaged on Friday, and 31 of them burned for the full six-second duration, according to SpaceX.

The two tests are part of the launch prep for Booster 9, which, along with an upper-stage prototype called Ship 25, will conduct the second-ever test flight of a fully stacked Starship vehicle.

The first such flight occurred on April 20 from Starbase. The goal was to send the upper stage to space and have it come down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. But that didn't happen; Starship suffered several problems, and SpaceX intentionally destroyed the vehicle four minutes after liftoff.

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The goals of the second flight will be similar to those of the first, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. 

Musk wants Booster 9 and Ship 25 to fly soon, but no target date has yet been announced. And SpaceX may still need to clear some regulatory hurdles; the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which issues launch licenses, is apparently still reviewing the mishap report that SpaceX filed about the April 20 flight.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.