SpaceX has lifted a previously flow Starship Super Heavy booster for the first time at its launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas. Footage from local media shows that the Starship Super Heavy booster, which flew on Flight 7, was lifted on the launch mount, with local notices for non-flight testing activities posted for Thursday and Friday. While SpaceX evaluates its second-generation upper-stage Starship after consecutive test flight mishaps, its performance with the booster has been remarkable. The firm has managed to catch the booster with the launch pad's arms multiple times. Now, it looks like SpaceX might try to refly the Starship Flight 7 booster on an upcoming Starship flight.
SpaceX Might Reuse Flight 7's Starship Super Heavy Booster On A Future Flight
SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 took to the skies in January and flew the second-generation upper-stage Starship for the first time. During the test, the Super Heavy booster performed normally, as it was successfully caught by the launch tower after sending the ship to space. Yet, soon after separating from the booster, the ship stopped communicating with ground control teams and SpaceX declared that it had lost the vehicle soon afterward.
As a result, most attention focused on the ship despite a successful tower catch. During Flight 7, SpaceX also reused a single Raptor engine on the booster for the first. Engine reusability is a key determinant of booster reusability and integral to SpaceX's efforts to rapidly reuse its rockets. During the next flight, Starship Flight 8, SpaceX lost the second-stage rocket once again in a serious mishap that evidently hinted that the firm's learnings from Flight 7 were insufficient to improve the rocket's performance.
With one engine being reused, SpaceX appears to be expanding its ambitions. Footage from local media shows that as the Starship Flight 7 Super Heavy booster was being lifted on the pad, at least nine engines were from previous flights, and their bell nozzle featured wings to indicate their previous missions.
Booster 14 being lifted onto Pad A at Starbase 🚀 @NASASpaceflight https://t.co/70BSb1K66W pic.twitter.com/hPdHNGEJPt
— Rough Riders Show (@RoughRidersShow) April 1, 2025
SpaceX has lifted the Starship Flight 7 booster to the launch pad and is likely to run tests on the rocket during the coming days. These tests should enable it to determine whether the firm will be able to fly the booster for the second time in a future flight. Additionally, as only a few of the booster's engines were visible, it's unclear whether SpaceX has swapped most of them with new engines for testing or not.
As it races to evaluate the booster's reusability, SpaceX has yet to provide updates about changes to the second-generation Starship upper-stage rocket, which failed again during Flight 8. The firm's post-Flight 7 writeup explained that vibrations in the rocket's propulsion system led to the engines shutting down. The FAA has cleared SpaceX's Flight 7 investigation, the agency confirmed in a mailed statement to reporters yesterday. However, it did not elaborate on the status of the Flight 8 investigation, and neither did SpaceX.
The outcome of Flight 8's investigation is crucial to SpaceX's plan to not only catch the upper stage with the launch tower but also to demonstrate in-space propellant transfer. Both of these objectives are central to the Starship program's flight profile and NASA's Artemis program to land the first humans on the Moon since the Apollo era.
Booster 14-1 has been lifted onto the launch mount. A road closure notice for non-flight testing activities has been posted for Thursday April 3rd, or Friday April 4th, both between 07:00 and 19:00 CST. @SpaceX are keen to get another flight under their belts. pic.twitter.com/O0vXcR8QgW
— LabPadre Space (@LabPadre) April 1, 2025
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