It’s beginning to look like SpaceX will attempt to make the 15 km (9.3 mi) hop test before Christmas! After two successful 150 m (~500 ft) hops with the
SN5 and
SN6 prototypes, engineers at SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas rolled out the SN8 – the first
Starship prototype to have
three Raptor engines. But before the SN8 can conduct a high-altitude test flight, the engineers needed to run a static fire test.
This test is crucial to ensuring that the
Starship‘s interior plumbing can handle its cryogenic propellants, and is the last milestone before the
Starship can conduct a high-altitude flight. On the evening of
Tuesday, October 20th, that’s exactly what they did! At 3:13 AM local time (01:13 AM PDT; 04:13 AM EDT), the SN8 fired up its three Raptor engines and kept firing them for several seconds straight.
Although SpaceX has not yet released a statement about the test, footage captured near the launch facility by NASA Spaceflight’s Mary McConnaughey (aka.
@BocaChicaGal) would suggest that it was a success. The video of the event (posted below) shows the engine being ignited at 2h27m12s after several minutes of venting and remaining lit for several seconds.
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