SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on test flight

CEO Musk hopes the rocket will get people to Mars one day, but he must first beat Bezos’ Blue Origin to help Nasa put astronauts on the moon

SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.

The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he was taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites for release halfway around the world.

It is the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and Nasa’s Artemis programme.

The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX’s third-generation Starship – a souped-up version dubbed V3 – soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening’s launch attempt.

SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when mid-air explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames.

At 124 metres (407 feet), the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by more than a metre (1 metre is 3.2 feet) and packs more engine thrust.