What’s SpaceX’s Starship all about?

The Starship system is a fully reusable, two?stage?to?orbit super heavy?lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX. The system is composed of a booster stage named Super Heavy and a second stage, also called “Starship”. Unusual for a traditional launch vehicle second stage, the Starship second stage is being designed to be a long?duration cargo and passenger?carrying spacecraft.

The Starship prototype descended under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps were actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enabled precise landing at the intended location. SN15’s Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle performed the landing flip maneuver immediately before touching down for a nominal landing on the pad.

These test flights of Starship are all about improving our understanding and development of a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration interplanetary flights, and help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.

 

Picture Credit : Google

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