The Star Ship

Starship is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle being developed by SpaceX, with goals of being fully reusable and having low operating costs. The rocket burns liquid oxygen and liquid methane, with its structure divided into two stages: a Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. Visibly, the spacecraft has four extruding flaps; they are used for controlling while in atmospheric entry and descent phases. The spacecraft can be specialized into several variants, either for hosting cargo, crew, propellant, or landing on the Moon. As a result, Starship is involved in several projects, including the Artemis program and the dearMoon project. Possible future projects include colonizing Mars and rapid transport between locations on Earth.

A Starship launch begins at either Starbase, Kennedy Space Center, or one of two SpaceX's offshore launch platforms. With the rocket pointed upright, the Super Heavy booster fires thirty-three Raptor engines and lifts itself into space. After separation, the Starship spacecraft fires three Raptor Vacuum engines and inserts itself into orbit. Meanwhile, the booster takes control while descending through the atmosphere by attached grid fins. Later, it fires many rocket engines downwards, caught by the launch tower's arms, and positioned to the starting launch mount. For the spacecraft, at the end of the mission, it enters the atmosphere, glides toward the landing site, fires three Raptor engines, and lands vertically on a pad.

Early concepts for a launch vehicle like Starship were first outlined by SpaceX as early as 2005, with frequent design changes as concepts matured towards development and production. In July 2019, a prototype vehicle named Starhopper performed a 150 m (490 ft) low altitude test flight, as it is powered by a single Raptor engine. After four failed attempts, in May 2021, the complete Starship SN15 flew to 10 km (6 mi), transitioned to horizontal free fall, and landed successfully for the first time. As of March 2022, Starship rocket will do its first spaceflight in early 2022.