SpaceX Starship

Starship is a super heavy-lift space vehicle under development by SpaceX. At 120 metres (394 feet) in height and with a liftoff mass of 5,000 metric tons (11,000,000 pounds), Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, surpassing the thrust of the NASA Space Launch System and Saturn V, as well as the Soviet N1, which had previously held the record.[2]

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Starship

Starship during its first test flight in April 2023.
Function	sub-orbital spaceflight orbital spaceflight interplanetary spaceflight
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Country of origin	United States
Project cost	at least US$3 billion[lower-alpha 1] [1]
Size
Height	120 m 394 ft
Diameter	9 m 29.5 ft
Mass	5,000 t 11,000,000 lb
Capacity
Payload to low Earth orbit
Mass	150 t 330,000 lb
Volume	1,000 m³ 35,000 ft³
Launch history
Launch sites	SpaceX Starbase Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A (planned)
Total launches	1
Success(es)	0
Failure(s)	1
First flight	20 April 2023
First stage – Super Heavy
Height	69 m 226 ft
Diameter	9 m 30 ft
Empty mass	200 t 440,000 lb
Gross mass	3,600 t 7,900,000 lb
Propellant mass	3,400 t 7,500,000 lb
Powered by	Raptor engine (33)
Maximum thrust	74,500,000 N 7,590 Tf 16,700,000 lbf
Propellant	liquid oxygen liquid methane
Second stage – Starship
Height	50 m 164 ft
Diameter	9 m 30 ft
Empty mass	100 t 220,000 lb
Gross mass	1,300 t 2,900,000 lb
Propellant mass	1,200 t 2,650,000 lb
Powered by	Raptor engine (3) Raptor Vacuum (3)
Maximum thrust	14,700,000 N 1,500 Tf 3,300,000 lbf
Propellant	liquid oxygen liquid methane
[edit on Wikidata]

The space vehicle consists of the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the second-stage spacecraft also named Starship. Both stages are powered by Raptor rocket engines, which burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane propellants in a full-flow staged combustion power cycle. Both are designed to be fully reusable, performing controlled landings on the arms of the launch tower used to lift the vehicles and reflown within hours. Starship is designed to have a payload capacity of 150 tonnes (330,000 lb) to low Earth orbit in a fully reusable configuration and 250 t (550,000 lb) when expended.[3] Starship vehicles in low Earth orbit are planned to be refilled with propellant launched in tanker Starships to enable transit to higher energy destinations such as geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and Mars.[lower-alpha 2]

Plans for a heavy-lift vehicle at SpaceX date to 2005, with the earliest concept resembling the modern vehicle announced in 2016. SpaceX's Starship development follows an iterative and incremental approach involving frequent, and often destructive, test flights of prototype vehicles.[4] The first and so far only orbital test flight was attempted on 20 April 2023, when an anomaly caused the vehicle to tumble out of control four minutes after launch. SpaceX activated the flight termination system, which fired the explosive charges but did not destroy the vehicle. Approximately 40 seconds later both stages were destroyed due to increased aerodynamic forces.[5] After the test, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the launch program pending results of a standard "mishap investigation".[6]

SpaceX intends Starship to become its primary space vehicle, superseding the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles as well as the Dragon 2 spacecraft currently used as part of NASA's commercial crew program to the International Space Station. Starship is often coupled with the company's Mars ambitions. Planned Starship flights include the development of SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation, crewed flights under the Polaris and dearMoon programs, and a crewed lunar landing with a modified Starship spacecraft under the Artemis program.