Almost two months after renaming his BFR Mars spaceship, SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk, announced the completion of the Starship test vehicle assembly on Thursday. Musk shared the announcement together with a picture of the Starship on his Twitter account.
In his tweet, Musk wrote that the: “Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering,”
As of Friday morning, the tweet was already shared 8.9 thousand times and received 47 thousand likes along with over 2 thousand comments from Musk’s avid followers and critics. In the same tweet thread, Musk shared other details about the test spaceship.
According to Musk, the Starship test vehicle will only be for suborbital VTOL tests. The spacecraft’s orbital version is reportedly taller with a thicker skin that will not wrinkle, and a “smoothly curving” nose section. The tech visionary also shared other measurements, claiming that its body/tank diameter is 9 meters (30 feet).
Twitter user, Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo (@JaneidyEve), who happened to be in the SpaceX Texas launch site, also shared some raw images of the Starship test vehicle and a short video clip showing it up close.
The Starship Mission
Musk previously hinted that a test launch of the vessel could happen as early as February of this year. Its orbital version, called the Starship Super Heavy will pioneer the agency’s first full-scale mission to Mars. Musk plans to start his Mars mission on 2022.
Aside from interplanetary missions, SpaceX also plans to use the Starship Super Heavy to deliver satellites to Earth’s orbit and beyond. It will also reportedly send more payloads as well as people to the International Space Station.
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