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The Starship Human Landing System program includes the development and operational use of several Starship spacecraft variants by SpaceX, including the Starship HLS ship—optimized to operate on and in the vicinity of the Moon—as well as a Starship depot that will store propellant in Earth orbit, and the Starship tanker designed to fly multiple trips to orbit from Earth's surface to ...
The Starship HLS is a modified configuration of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft, optimized to operate on and around the Moon. As a result, the heat shield and flight control surfaces — parts of the main Starship design needed for atmospheric re-entry — are not included in Starship HLS. The entire spacecraft will land on the Moon and will then ...
When stacked and fully fueled, Starship has a mass of approximately 5,000 t (11,000,000 lb), [c] a diameter of 9 m (30 ft) [17] and a height of 121.3 m (398 ft). [6] The rocket has been designed with the goal of being fully reusable to reduce launch costs; [18] it consists of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage [19] which are powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines.
After its 33 Raptor engines roared to life, lifting Starship toward its destination, the booster headed toward home. As it neared the launch tower, it fired three of its engines to slow down.
The Starship spacecraft is reusable, and is recovered via large arms on the tower capable of catching the descending vehicle. [8] As of January 2025, 0 vehicles have been refurbished and subsequently flown at least a second time, though the ability to catch a vehicle was proven during Starship's fifth and later seventh flight test. [9] [10]
The maneuver can heat up Starship’s exterior to more than 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit (1,427 degrees Celsius), according to prior flight data, and has previously charred Starship’s flaps into ...
A similar test occurred during Starship's third test flight, though the transfer during that test was between two tanks on the same vehicle. [2] The ability to refuel a Starship in low orbit is critical for the Artemis program , [ 3 ] as Starship HLS requires approximately ten tanker launches to reach the lunar surface.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship performed another spectacular launch during Tuesday’s test flight, but the company opted at the last minute not to try for its second-ever catch of the Super Heavy ...